What's up, Doc?

The other day I watched the documentary/movie Freakonomics, based on the popular best-seller that I read last year. Given that I've read the book, I thought I would share my thoughts on the movie with you.

I did see it a little while ago, so my memory is rusty, but from what I recall, the movie is pretty good. They address a number of topics from the book in entertaining and different ways. Sometimes they stick to the story from the book. Sometimes, they go further and explore the theme from the book and look at new research and information on the topic. Sometimes, the information is not directly related to the book, but is similar thematically.

For example, one of the topics they looked at was cheating in sumo wrestling, as had been discussed in the book. However, the filmmakers took it further and looked at some recent news on cheating in sumo wrestling and some journalists who are working to bring the truth about cheating to light. It was an interesting glimpse into Japanese society.

Each subject was directed by a different director. The authors of the book framed each segment, so the overall style of the film was the same, but each segment reflected the style of that particular director. It is difficult to make facts and figures be entertaining on the big screen, but I thought the graphics designers did a good job translating the concepts to the movies.

I was a little disappointed that the movie didn't discuss one of my favourite parts of the book: the economics of drug dealing. I would have liked to hear more from the economist who did the studies on the drug dealer that kept good records of his "business" that were analyzed economically.

Overall, the movie was enjoyable. I'd heard negative reviews of the movie, and, while it was not as good as the book (because not everything translates to the movies), it was still an enjoyable, and informative, evening.