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"Weiner"
U.S. Documentary Competition
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Access is everything in "Weiner," a fascinating behind-the-headlines look at political hubris run amok. Directors Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg were given unfettered access to former New York congressman Anthony Weiner as he ran for mayor of New York City in 2013. (Kriegman was Weiner's congressional chief of staff before leaving to become a filmmaker.) The crew follows Weiner both on the campaign trail, and at home with his wife Huma Abedin (a close aide to Hillary Clinton) and their baby son Jordan. The excitement of watching Weiner work a crowd, and get forgiveness for the sexting scandal that forced his resignation from Congress in 2011, is nothing compared to the chaos when more sexting incidents — which happened after he left Congress — surface. And still, the cameras keep rolling. Kriegman and Steinberg show life inside the eye of the media hurricane, as Weiner tries to calculate a politically palatable answer to his self-inflicted scandal and Abedin wrestles with her role in her husband's faltering campaign. The result is a riveting study of political psychology and barely contained marital turmoil.
— Sean P. Means
"Weiner" screens again in the 2016 Sundance Film Festival: Thursday, 1 p.m., Redstone Cinema 2, Park City; Saturday, 8:30 a.m., Prospector Square Theatre, Park City.