Freakonomics

PG-13

Released Oct 1, 2010

1h 26m

Documentary

List

66%

64 Reviews

Tomatometer

51%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Vignettes explore concepts put forth in a best-selling book, including cheating, bribery, and the importance of names.

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Critics Consensus

More disjointed and less compelling than the book it's based on, Freakonomics isn't quite as entertaining or educational as it should be.

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Audience Member

its semi-interesting 'Freakonomics' manages to cover more of the minimal issues having to do with casuality and incentives stuff like parenting, names, education are covered briefly if not perfectly Im pretty sure the book itself hits all the right notes but viewers can get an idea might strike a few nerves with most touching upon several topics

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/13/24

Full Review

s r

Despite its confusing narrative, it still contained much of the important parts of the book that still resonate. It was good. It was on Amazon.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The method of using incentive-based thinking to explain human nature is quite interesting. The multiple segments kept the documentary entertaining and introduced various applications of this method. The different directors and styles used in each segment also made it easier to understand the topic as each one was drastically different from the other. Some of the segment were easier to understand than the others. Although some topics discussed were interesting and relatable, the information was not explained properly. At certain moments during the film, the audience may feel that the directors are throwing around random numbers. The directors needed to do a better job in explaining how the data pertains to the topic. The lack of explanation also makes the documentary feel rushed. Overall however, the documentary Freakonomics was a very thought-provoking piece of work and presents a method of explaining human nature that has sparked my interest enough to go read the book.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

Full Review

dustin d

Freakonomics asks us to think outside the box when considering causal relationships in social phenomena, using several case studies each presented as a different segment. It feels more like a short season of a TV series strung into a movie. And like the podcast, is a little overproduced. It presents a few economic concepts in a fun manner, and is a good introduction to these topics for a general audience.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A few segments were eye-opening and almost life-changing, but some parts were filled with fairly boring and useless information (the sumo wrestler segment).

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/14/23

Full Review

Audience Member

it's nice to put a face and voice to this beautiful book.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

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Seth Gordon

Director

Morgan Spurlock

Director

Alex Gibney

Director

Eugene Jarecki

Director

Rachel Grady

Director

Heidi Ewing

Director

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Robbie Collin

News of the World

Freasonable.

Rated: 3/5

Dec 5, 2010

Full Review

Sukhdev Sandhu

Daily Telegraph (UK)

Levitt and Dubner often talk about the importance of giving incentives to customers. It's not clear if this film gives quite enough of them to those people who've already bought the book.

Rated: 3/5

Dec 2, 2010

Full Review

Xan Brooks

Guardian

Merely proves that a batch of bite-sized featurettes does not automatically add up to a satisfying meal.

Rated: 2/5

Dec 2, 2010

Full Review

Amber Wilkinson

Eye for Film

The limited time given to each of the short films means that there is little opportunity to get really down and dirty with the number-crunching, so that for every aspect that is fascinating there is an attendant frustration.

Rated: 3/5

Jan 16, 2011

Full Review

Jeffrey Chen

Window to the Movies

A lighthearted plea to the audience to try to think outside the box when it comes to matters of causality.

Rated: 7/10

Jan 7, 2011

Full Review

Robert Roten

Laramie Movie Scope

A real hodgepodge of ideas and themes, directed by six different directors, it lacks cohesion. It does, however, have some interesting segments.

Rated: B

Dec 30, 2010

Full Review

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Synopsis

Vignettes explore concepts put forth in a best-selling book, including cheating, bribery, and the importance of names.

Director: Seth Gordon, Morgan Spurlock, Alex Gibney, Eugene Jarecki, Rachel Grady, Heidi Ewing
Producer: Paul Fiore, Seth Gordon, Jay Rifkin
Screenwriter: Seth Gordon, Morgan Spurlock, Jeremy Chilnick, Alex Gibney, Peter Bull, Eugene Jarecki
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Production Co: Jigsaw Educational Productions Inc., Loki Films
Rating: PG-13 (Elements of Violence|Drugs|Brief Strong Language|Sexuality/Nudity)
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 1, 2010, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 31, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $100.7K
Runtime: 1h 26m

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