24 Hours on Craigslist (2005) User Reviews

Pretty good, just needs a little focus.

[resxn5 · 6/10 · 27 April 2006]

This was a well done documentary, with plenty of humor...and a few touching moments, ironically. For me it felt a little long, and not quite focused enough to hold my interest for the length of the film. I think that the humor aspects could have spaced a little better to keep me interested. The characters were all interesting, and the underlying tone of the film was great.

I think with some better editing and a more "movement" in the flow of the whole thing, this movie could be top drawer. I started to get restless towards the middle all through to the end.

Nice work, though. Definitely a guy to watch...

Concept great; realization not.

[roland-104 · 4/10 · 31 October 2005]

To make this documentary about the now legendary Internet classified ad service, Michael Gibson first assembled 8 separate video film crews he discovered through the San Francisco Bay Area Craigslist website listings. Then, lining them all up one morning (August 4, 2003, as it happened), he dispatched these teams to first contact Bay Area people advertising various services, products, needs and desires on Craigslist, and then to go out to visit and shoot interviews with the most promising or colorful contacts, all within a single 24 hour period. The accrued footage was then edited to make this film. It was a clever concept but the product falls flat. Most of the people interviewed are either boring or boorish. The editing is WAY too frenetic, WAY too chop chop.

The film might have been far better if Gibson had lingered longer on a few carefully chosen, engaging, viewer friendly people. I did learn here that the number "420" is, like "Bob," a code for marijuana, but when I Googled "420 marijuana," I found 497,000 listings: I'm clearly the last person on earth to find out about this code. One fun thing I'd also never heard of is a phenomenon called "flash mob" games (708,000 listings on Google, sigh). Players find each other via Craigslist. Everyone who signs up then receives written instructions (by e-mail, I suppose) to gather at a certain place and time and then follow a precise, timed protocol for when and how to behave.

This being San Francisco, I thought the game would involve nude romps through town, but no. In one game, a hundred or more people converge to fill the lobby of an upscale hotel, whereupon they first hug everyone else who's there like long lost amigos; then they all crash to the floor, flopping down upon one another in simulated sleep, like a narcoleptics convention. If only the rest of the film could have been this good. My rating: 4.5/10 (C). (Film seen on 09/30/05 at the Idaho International Film Festival) If you'd like to read more of my reviews, send me a message for directions to my websites.

Sensationalist, amateur film-making at its worst

[searay580 · 2/10 · 17 October 2005]

This movie barely captures the essence of Craigslist and does a mediocre and, frankly, boring job of it at that. Most of the time is spent on the shock value of 4-way gay orgies and things of that nature--things that have been occurring long before CL and have little to do with the site and community other than that's how this particular gay-guy-gang-bang happened to organize itself.

What about all us regular folk who find apartments, jobs, sports teams, even entire networks of friends on CL? Yes, the film brushed by that, but with some very boring and typical stories. What about those of us who have started entire businesses on the Internet and couldn't have done it without Craigslist? Or someone who really made a big difference in someone else's life because of CL? You know those stories are out there. My life is the extraordinary product of some of them.

This is an amateur film (doesn't really even deserve the perceived value of "indy") that chose to focus on the freakish, predictable and boring aspects of a web site that has revolutionalized economies and markets and done an unquantifiable amount of good in millions of peoples' lives. I wouldn't be surprised if this film inspires a more talented and creative film maker to one-up this poor offering.

Worth watching

[k8bert1 · 7/10 · 16 August 2006]

Overall this was a good to great film. There were some laugh-out-loud moments, a lot of very weird and creepy ones, and a few sad ones. People who are okay with the eccentricity of the Bay Area will probably like this film the most, whereas viewers from "Middle America" (as discussed in the film) will probably be offended by the bible-bashing liberals with alternative sex lives that populate the area and thus are the main subjects. As for the stories, they were really hit or miss. Some of the people interviewed were hilarious, like the two ambiguously gay roommates (I loved it when he asked, 'Want some milk?') and the 50 year old who still lived with his mom and was searching for a 270 pound woman (was he joking? was it serious? I still don't know). Some of the misses were people who just weren't very likable, like the girl who wanted to make money by marrying a gay guy, which just didn't make any sense. I would have liked to see something from the "Missed Connections" section.

Raunchy - Too Much Shock Factor - Not a Cross Section of the CL Users

[ab-140 · 1/10 · 25 March 2006]

This was a bad documentary. Craigslist isn't all about lewd behavior, drugs and sexual oddities. It is about bringing people and their different needs together through the use of a online classified page.

The Beginning 30 minutes was boring. I found myself looking at my watch. There are Friday night TV shows I would rather have been watching. Or I could have stayed late at work to finish up a few things.

The majority of the movie was based around the more criminal and dirty parts of CL. The majority of the people I have met have been normal. Last year my winning soccer team was formed from CL. The movie, it was solely based on the San Fran page. There was a guy who delivers pot, a older weirdo who has sex parties, a couple that looks for S&M buddies, a girl who paints pornographic frescos, a few transvestites, a gay woman looking for a gay man / sperm donor for an ambiguous father figure, a guy who does gay pornos and also gives massages. We were there for 'Directors night' when someone asked the director after the movie if there were plans to do the same in other cities.

A cross section of the CL users was not represented. After the show the director took questions. He said CRAIG didn't want them to make a NY Craigslist Movie because the page is getting increased volume from pressure from law enforcement. This stupid movie concentrated on some of the things law enforcement should be interested in, not an accurate cross section of the Users of Craigslist. It was raunchy. And it will drive people from using CL.

Don't waste your time or money

[brenda-79 · 2/10 · 14 April 2006]

This film was so poorly shot, I had a headache for 2 hours after. The storyline was abysmal at best...I mean, given the size of the community there has to be much more interesting content that could've been included. I also have a hard time believing it a true documentary, as some of the people interviewed were painfully acting their way through their "story". If there had been more stories like the couple that sold their stuff to travel around the world, it may have at least had content. But back to the shooting- over/underexposed and completely unsteady (I understand a style, this was not it). It might explain if all of the shooters were doing it for free from a CL listing in exchange for a credit. Although, if I had shot it and received credit, I would have used a pseudonym.

One of the best docs this year.

[GSabastian · 10/10 · 14 February 2006]

A very cool film-- I caught it at the SF IndieFest earlier this year, and it was the best thing I'd seen in a while. I find most documentaries boring and pedantic, but this read like a wildlife film where humans are the exotic animals. Trannies, diabetic cats, angry roommates, new age gurus, my favorite was the houseboat story. There's probably about 100 stories crammed into this film, but the whole is greater then the sum of its parts-- the world is becoming decentralized, and this film shows how craigslist is the glue that's bringing urban life back together, both in content and structure. With scenes like a sudden flash mob in downtown San Francisco, this is a fun flick even if you're not a craigslist fan already. One of the best docs this year

great indie documentary

[JJOmalley · 10/10 · 29 April 2006]

I recently watched the documentary film '24 Hours on Craigslist' in San Francisco and I really enjoyed it. The film does a great job of tying together the nearly impossible: a random day of posts on Craigslist. This documentary is worth watching purely for the characters interviewed by the film. They are at times hilariously funny (some intentionally so) and provide a voyeuristic glimpse into who it is that drives the site's populist appeal: us.

I doubt my 70 year old dad, who uses craigslist regularly, would relate to or understand most of the folks in the film. But that's not really the point. '24 Hours on Craigslist' it makes you question who uses the site if we only saw 88 stories? What were the other 99.5% of people posting on Craigslist like and how much stranger could they be?

I will say that the rapid edits and amateurish shooting styles (different camera operators) make this indie documentary a little hard to watch at times but I definitely recommend this film.

Great movie--both fun and serious at the same time

[gibsonlaw · 9/10 · 26 April 2006]

Everyone has a Craigslist story-- selling my furniture, renting an apartment, finding a new roommate, butler for hire, selling 250 pairs of army surplus pants, "Ethel Merman" looking for a 70s band,rent a husband, etc etc.

This is a way to get to know in 80 minutes a laid back version of San Francisco, all that we love and hate about it. Touching stories as well as the outrageous!

Is there a Craig for Craiglist? This is a story within a story-- "Craig is a giant computer underneath the stands at Kezar stadium?; How does craigslist make enough money to stay on the web? (no ads you know)

We need a Craiglist movie for New York, London, Paris and the other 25 plus cities where it operates.

Great movie

Hilarious + Real = Really Hilarious

[daffy_g · 10/10 · 8 December 2006]

"I give this my lowest rating ever; 7 thumbs up!" ---Homer J. Simpson

I only went to this movie because my folks had an extra ticket, but I wound up going back to see it again with my own group of friends.

Director Ferris Gibson's film has a lot of highly eccentric, but utterly sincere characters. As you might expect in a film whose subjects are basically self-selected volunteers, the people tend to be exhibitionist oddballs. This leads to quite a few funny moments, and the crowd we were with (mostly college kids) laughed loudly at several points. On the other hand, there were quite a few points where the audience chuckled uncomfortably and squirmed in their seats over what the people on screen were publicly revealing.

Despite their bizarre antics, you can't help but like most of these people, even if you also feel a bit sorry for them. Others in the movie were less likable but more pathetic. It was odd to watch a sad parade of alternative lifestyle people talking about their chosen lifestyle (NOT their sexual orientation) and how they planned to improve it with such grim, dour determination. Perhaps I am naive, but I would have imagined they would be happier somehow, since they are living the way they dreamed...

Ultimately, I suspect I will remember some of the characters forever. I've told the story of the 3-time widower several times now. Even seemingly banal stories produced images that stick; like the low-key Indian American (trying to rent out a room) who opens his own bedroom door to reveal a large confederate battle flag. Ironic or just odd, it still makes me giggle.

It might sound like the group I went to the movie with was inauspicious; my parents and some of their ex-Peace Corp Liberal friends, plus their right-wing Republican son (me). Nevertheless, we all had a great time watching as various story lines unfolded. On the way out, one of the ex-hippies said she was surprised I wasn't offended by the aberrant behavior of the East Bay Bible-Bashers we had just seen. But I wasn't offended; in fact I was strangely reassured. San Francisco really is the freak show that conservatives have been telling us it is. And not only that, but the very liberal elite who constantly claim to be better, smarter and to know what is best, are revealed to be (to give the most charitable interpretation) surrounded by semi-literate dingbats who are scrabbling around desperately trying to escape the sad, dingy and pathetic lives they have built for themselves in San Francisco, the promised-land of ultra-liberalism.

SPOILER; San Francisco really IS chock-full-o-nut-jobs!