I went in to "Maxed Out" ignorantly expecting an interesting documentary on the foibles of credit and instead was duped into watching another left-leaning screed against just about all the wrong people. It doesn't take an idiot to realize the major problem with debt and credit cards in America falls mostly on the people themselves who run it up. The people who decide they need a Hummer to drive the mile and a half to the grocery store for milk instead of a more economical car. The people who decide a 52" Plasma screen just isn't big enough...or maybe that just one 52" Plasma isn't enough.<br /><br />Sure there are examples of people who are down on their luck, fall on hard, unexpected times or are scammed by lenders into deals they can't afford. I'm not saying those people aren't out there. However, "Maxed Out" focuses solely on them and ignores the majority of people who lived it up only to find they couldn't really afford to do so.<br /><br />This film plays on the heart strings (admittedly well) and turns to solely blaming the credit companies and big government for ALL of the credit trouble in this country. Never once does it show an example of someone who hadn't seen the light until they hit rock bottom thanks to their own ignorance, stupidity or greed. It does highlight two college students that ultimately committed suicide because they applied for and received credit cards upon starting college, unknown to their parents. They were irresponsible, ran up a debt they couldn't escape and ultimately turned to suicide. This is incredibly sad and I feel for the family, but you cannot solely blame the credit card companies for this. Hey, I got a credit card when I started college and I was smart enough to realize that you still have to pay for all that stuff. I never bought more than I could afford to pay off when the bill came. That's how it works. "Maxed Out" NEVER mentions this simple fact. Instead, it opts to blame the credit companies at every turn.<br /><br />I said that it also loves to blame government for being in bed with the credit companies. This is somewhat true, but it unfairly paints the Republicans as the sole guilty party. I actually didn't get to watch this film until 2009, about 2-1/2 years after its release and now the current economic troubles only serve to marginalize this film and its Republican bashing tone.<br /><br />It wants so desperately to blame Republicans for the credit problems of ordinary Americans but time has proved that it wasn't until after the Democrats took over (soon after this film's theatrical release) that the economy and credit problems reached Armageddon status. It even has the bad luck to briefly show such upstanding "leaders" as Christopher Dodd and Eliot Spitzer in a positive light. Sure, Spitzer's problems were personal, but Dodd has proved to be one of the greatest hypocrites and thieves in government today, accepting sweetheart mortgage deals on his several "mansions" in exchange for government payoffs back to the lender (Countrywide.) Dodd is hardly the example to hold up as someone fighting to fix the credit industry in America, but "Maxed Out" tries, while attempting to demonize President Bush at every turn.<br /><br />It also unfairly portrays the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2005 as a move that would mostly punish those already down on their luck for no reason of their own as well as solely a back-room deal between the Bush administration and major lender (and Bush campaign donor) MNBA. I'm not saying all that is entirely untrue, but the fact is the primary design of the bill was to stop the trend of people using bankruptcy as the easy way out even when there were other ways to escape their problems. By 2005, too many people who were living beyond their means had already learned to cheat the system and use bankruptcy law as a way to avoid paying off their debts. Stories abounded about how bankruptcy had stopped becoming a stigma and started becoming a status symbol among the jet-set and those desperately trying to "keep up with the Joneses." The 2005 bill specifically targeted those peoplethe very same people "Maxed Out" entirely ignores. The same people it neglects to mention once in any single segment of the film.<br /><br />I also mentioned that the film is sluggish and haphazard. Aside from the left-leaning message of the film, it's not a fast moving, nor engrossing documentary. At only about 1:20 minutes (before the credits start rolling) it felt like 2+ hours. Not really helping is the fact that it jumps from message to message and story to story and sometimes seems to highlight a subject only to abandon it before the point is made.<br /><br />There is a brief segment featuring two college students who attempted to use a sponsorship by a credit company to pay for college. Apparently it worked for a while, but they differed on the terms of the sponsorship and eventually the arrangement dissolved. The students claim they wanted to educate students on smart borrowing while the credit companies had other ideas. It's hard to say because the segment is so short and unfocused that I wasn't really sure what the deal was, how long it lasted and why specifically it ended. Additionally, not one representative of the credit company was interviewed for their take on the story.<br /><br />That's also a major flaw of the film. It's entirely too one-sided. You might expect a credit company would at least get one chance to blame irresponsible borrowers and outright cheats. But it never happens. Ultimately, what could have been an interesting take on the universal blame for the credit fiasco in America, turns out as a one-sided, finger pointing, no solution bore.