Freakonomics, the ubernormous best-seller by “rogue” economist Steven Levitt and presumably rogue journalist Stephen Dubner, has been adapted into a film, and you better believe there are some rogue filmmakers involved.
The film is divided up amongst an all-star grab from the current docu It-crowd: Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room), Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing (Jesus Camp), Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me), Eugene Jarecki (Why We Fight) and Seth Gordon (The King of Kong).
The film has a special iTunes only early release next month (film hits theaters Oct 1), and Apple has premiered the new trailer. Below is the previous teaser.
For those unfamiliar, the book uses statistics to shit all over a lot of common held ideas and surface with new results (abortion reduces crime, having books in your house won’t make your kids smarter, naming your kid “Loser” won’t ruin their life). It is an incredibly entertaining read, surprisingly approachable and light for the data heavy material, and the film seems to be trying to capture that energy. I had been curious if the film would attempt to break any new ground and stand on its own legs, but it seems to be simply recapping and visualizing chapters from the book. I certainly don’t blame them. Though I do think it slightly lessens the appeal to anyone who has already read the book.
3 comments
I wonder if they will keep the part about abortion reducing crime as that has been pretty thoroughly debunked now. Still, it should be interesting to see how this turns out.
No mention of how the most important points in the book have now all been debunked by multiple Nobel winners? This book made millions based on the fact that hipsters and current tea party members have such low reading comprehension
@#1 & 2: Any Links? I liked the book a lot, but have no problem with any smart/thoughtful/supported debunkings of the info.
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