Freakonomics The Movie Review

Ever wondered why the name “Shaniqwa” seems to be found more in African American communities than in Caucasian? Or why cheating culture is so big in sumo wrestling?

Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner try to answer these questions, and more, in the documentary Freakonomics The Movie.

Levitt, an economist, and Dubner, a journalist, have created the world of Freakonomics that explores the “hidden side of everything” by taking economic principles and applying them to unusual situations.

The film is based on the first book of the same name and presents three main topics: cheating, cause and effect and incentives, as well as four case studies.

The book is more in-depth, whereas the film can only present so much in 90 minutes. As a result, the movie does not go into why drug dealers live with their mothers and other topics the book explores.

With that being said, the topics the film does cover are presented very well. Each case study was written and directed by different people which makes each topic unique. If you prefer consistency this can be annoying, but I found it worked well for this film..

Freakonomics The Movie is easy to watch, entertaining and above all, insightful. If you want to discover more about the “hidden side” of things, I suggest you start by watching this film.

I would give it a rating of 4.5 out of 5.