Movie Review: Maxed Out

That's the biggest problem with this film, it has no focus.  Yes, we all know unchecked credit is bad.  Duh.  We all know the credit card companies are out to steal every penny they can from their customers.  Duh.  We all know the federal government passes laws to help them do it.  Duh.  We all know the american consumer is stupid and can't control their desire to buy every crappy product under the sun.  Duh.  So what does this movie show?  Some of the unfortunate people who fall prey to the credit card companies and the unfortunate events in their lives.

The movie opens with a real estate agent talking about how well housing is doing and how you can't go wrong buying a home.  Very prophetic, we all know how well that's working out now.  It then goes through some soundbites about debt.  Eventually, it settles down and they cut to a radio talk show host named Dave Ramsey.  He talks about how he got rich, lost it all and now talks to others about how to manage their money.  Coincidence is a funny thing.  I had never heard of Dave Ramsey before this film and the next morning as I was waiting at the shop for my car to be inspected, a man walked in and sat down holding a copy of Dave Ramsey's book.  So, I struck up a conversation with the guy.  He said he had recently retired and needs help understanding how to manage his money.  I thought to myself, the time to learn to manage your money is long before you retire, but then again when you're retired I guess you have more time to focus on your finances and managing them.  He praised Dave Ramsey and said his course was challenging.  Give the guy credit (pun intended) for trying to take care of his nestegg.

The film then went on to talk about the credit card company fees and debt collectors and intersperses this with a sad story of a missing woman who was in debt and apparently killed herself.  The film continues to interlace stories like this with bits about the credit card companies and how they are preying on consumers and how the government is helping them out.  This format can be somewhat effective at creating emotions in the viewer, but it doesn't really touch on any of the issues or reasons behind the current state of affairs.  This superficial look at the issues was less than effective for me and provided no new insight on how we got to this state.  So if you're looking for a film to provide some answers as to why we're so in love with debt, you won't find it here, so the film gets a miserly 2 out of 5 stars.

Best Line:  "If you look like you make money, I guess eventually you will."

Second Best Line:  "I've done stupid with zero's on the end."