Review: Weiner

Films
July 8, 2016

If you’ve heard of Anthony Weiner, chances are it’s because you know him as the US politician with a penchant for sending pictures of his junk to ladies over the internet.

This exceptional documentary follows him from the start of his ill-fated campaign to become Mayor of New York City, shortly after the first scandal had broken but not before plenty more comes to light. The access to Weiner is so great that the most fascinating question gradually evolves from “why is this politician sending dick pics?” to “why the hell is he letting them film this?”

It paints a picture of a prodigiously talented man, someone who can whip up a crowd in a way few politicians can, but who craves 24-hour-a-day limelight, even if it happens to be his own humiliation. His fall, and the reaction of his wife (Huma Abedin, a long-term advisor to Hillary Clinton) is both heart-breaking and stomach-churning, real watch-it-through-your-fingers stuff. This might just be the political documentary of the decade.

First published in City A.M.