Greetings AICN, MiraJeff here to weigh in on The King of Kong, director Seth Gordon’s buzzworthy documentary about the two best Donkey Kong players in the world, champion Billy Mitchell and challenger Steve Wiebe. The question du jour of course, is does Kong live up to the considerable hype? I'm pleased to report that the answer, thankfully, is yes, it does. In fact, The King of Kong is the best time I've had with a documentary since Air Guitar Nation.

There are conspiracies abound in The King of Kong, mostly concerning how Steve's taped world record attempt was not considered a valid submission because of his circuit board, which two of Billy's cronies go to Steve's house to inspect. And later, when Billy sends in his taped submission to his friend who also happens to be the head of the scoring verification organization, the ref is all too eager to report Billy's score on the Internet without verifying its credibility, which is in serious doubt because of inconsistencies in the point-counter and a static line that appears visible on the left side of the screen suggesting that there may have been some post-production done.

After watching The King of Kong, some people might feel like Billy and Steve’s lives are a little bit sad and more than a little bit pathetic, but they certainly don't see it that way and neither did I. These guys take this thing hyper-seriously, putting their families on hold for the chance to chase a lifelong dream. The dream of course, is being seen as a winner. Being the best in the world at something, even if that something is Donkey Kong. Seeing your name in the Guinness Book of World Records is an ambitious thrill. You can't be in the Guinness Book of World Records for merely being attractive, athletic or charming. Sure those attributes will help you in life but they won't necessarily distinguish you from your peers. Being the best becomes an obsession for both of them.

I don’t want to say too much more about Billy and Steve. It’s better to let you discover their idiosyncratic personalities for yourselves. I’m not a big fan of reality TV but these two guys are remarkably watchable, especially the arrogant Mitchell who has a fascinating aura about him that pulls you in and compels you to watch. He’d make perfect fodder for a Spike TV series. These guys are so worthy of being documentary subjects, it comes as no surprise that Gordon is developing a feature remake at New Line with writer Michael Bacall, who was recently listed as one of Variety's Ten Screenwriters to Watch. The consistently entertaining documentary is the perfect property to be adapted into a feature. Two wildly different lead characters, one charismatic but cocky, the other an underdog who just needs a break. And one of doc’s strengths is that Gordon never mocks his subjects, which I have a feeling the feature version will do, inadvertently or not.

That’s the beauty of the documentary. You simply can't make up some of these kooky characters. Like Brian Kuh, Billy's uber-annoying lackey, or as he might prefer, disciple. Or Russell Maracyzk, a nebbish video game referee who is pretty much begging to be played by Paul Giamatti in the feature adaptation, although Judah Friedlander might be a more practical casting choice. And how about Head Ref Walter Day, who looks like Kevin McAllister's creepy old neighbor from Home Alone. These guys are so priceless that there were times during the film where I felt like I was watching an inspired Christopher Guest mockumentary. In fact, if Guest was the one adapting this material, I bet it would be his biggest hit yet considering its youth-skewing subject matter.

In summation, The King of Kong really is the definition of a must-see documentary. And I’m shocked to realize that I haven’t even used the F-word yet. This movie is funny. Really funny. So get out there this weekend if you live in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle or Austin and show it some support. I know the film is going wide in the coming weeks so keep your eyes peeled because this movie is worth more than a fistful of quarter. At a brisk 77 minutes, it’s worth your time too.

That’ll do it for me, folks. I’ll be back with a plethora of reviews. That’s right. A plethora, so hang tight. ‘Til next time, this is MiraJeff signing off…