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Movies / Upcoming / Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lenders
Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lenders

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Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lenders (2007)

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Reviews Counted:48

Fresh:42

Rotten:6

Average Rating:7/10

Consensus: Maxed Out's presentation of startling facts and candid interviews put a human face on the issue of debt and financial insecurity.

Runtime: 90 mins

Genre: Education/General Interest

US Box Office: $0

Synopsis: Author and filmmaker James D. Scurlock takes on the powerful financial industry in an insightful and infuriating documentary about credit card debt in America. As he crisscrosses the United States,... Author and filmmaker James D. Scurlock takes on the powerful financial industry in an insightful and infuriating documentary about credit card debt in America. As he crisscrosses the United States, Scurlock interviews average Americans whose lives have been ruined by predatory financial lenders. His subjects are from all walks of life--everyone from retired widows in the Midwest, to poverty-stricken Southerners, to two college students who commit suicide due to their insurmountable bills. Scurlock exposes the extortionate rates of the credit card companies, and reveals their practice of preying upon the very people who are least likely to be able to pay their debts. His interviews with a Harvard law professor, debt collectors, and self-help "financial gurus" further expose the shocking corruption within the financial system and the toxic ties between the corporations and the United States government. The subject matter is gripping enough, but Scurlock ups the entertainment value with a pop-music soundtrack and by splicing in archival footage from educational films. MAXED OUT carries an urgent message for the future of America. Scurlock's battle cry is: grab the scissors and destroy your plastic--before it destroys you. [More]

Director: James D. Scurlock

Director: James D. Scurlock
Composer: Benoit Charest
Producer: James D. Scurlock
Studio: Red Envelope Entertainment

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Reviews for Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of...

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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Uma análise detalhada e preocupante sobre a política empregada pelas operadoras de cartões de crédito no intuito de manterem os clientes numa situação de endividamento constante - ou melh... pior: crescente.

comment Comment
01/06/08
Pablo Villaca
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena

This muckraking documentary on America's personal-debt crisis lays bare the predatory practices of credit card companies and the Bush administration's cozy relationship with the financial services industry.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
12/04/07
J. R. Jones
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader

When it comes to credit, it pays to be informed.

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
11/04/07
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
10/06/07
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Do not see this film if you worry about money.

Full Review Source: Time Out New York | comment Comment
10/06/07
Joshua Rothkopf
Joshua Rothkopf
Time Out New York

Maxed Out focuses on how much we're in hock without ever really wondering why we need to buy.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
10/06/07
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe

This scattershot exposé of usurious banking practices examines why the most vulnerable segment of society is victimized by the lending industry and finds a simple answer: It’s obscenely profitable.

comment Comment
10/06/07
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

One of the most effective of the many recent agitprop documentaries.

Full Review Source: Antagony & Ecstasy | comment Comment
09/27/07
Tim Brayton
Tim Brayton
Antagony & Ecstasy

The propagandistic Maxed Out is ultimately undermined by the fact that, as vile as many of its corporate interviewees seem, its everyman subjects are often just as culpable in creating and perpetuating the whole mess.

Full Review Source: IGN Movies | comment Comment
06/25/07
Stax
Stax
IGN Movies

shines a light on one of the most pervasive (and potentially disastrous) problems affecting our society today

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
06/17/07
David Thomas
David Thomas
Filmcritic.com

[A] dispiriting expose of predatory lending scams that mislead even smart, educated people and a credit-card industry that is designed... to work against the ordinary consumer...

Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | comment Comment
05/30/07
MaryAnn Johanson
MaryAnn Johanson
Flick Filosopher

It's a slapdash affair... yet still winds up with a raw, gritty power.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
04/24/07
David Cornelius
David Cornelius
eFilmCritic.com

Maxed Out exposes the credit card sham for what it is, and fingers the hustlers who perpetuate it.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
04/20/07
Terry Lawson
Terry Lawson
Detroit Free Press

...the film will make you think twice about spending money you don't have.

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
03/27/07
Robin Clifford
Robin Clifford
Reeling Reviews

To maximize your return on this useful report, sit through the end credits where Spurlock deposits some of his best material.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
03/23/07
Bill Stamets
Bill Stamets
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Maxed Out doesn’t really offer solutions, probably because there are none. But it does a great job of showing how the rich get richer and the poor foot the bill, plus interest.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
03/20/07
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A much-needed wake-up call to face the fact that state-sanctioned usury and exorbitant late fees are destroying the prospects of working class citizens of ever achieving anything approaching the American Dream.

Full Review Source: AALBC.com | comment Comment
03/17/07
Kam Williams
Kam Williams
AALBC.com

As a film, Maxed Out occasionally loses its way with glib choices (get ready to get tired of the song Money) and odd diversions (a segment with a Realtor begins the movie with a whimper, not a bang). But as a cry of outrage, it's spot-on.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
03/15/07
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

If your outrage glands need a workout, be sure to see Maxed Out, a muckraking, emotionally powerful, wickedly entertaining documentary on the dreary-sounding topic of consumer debt.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
03/15/07
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune

Maxed Out, while occasionally muddled in its financial details, presents a more-accurate-than-not vision of a nation that is starting to look like a candidate for rehab, on both an individual and a national level, for its addiction to debt.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
03/14/07
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly
 
 
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