Who's in It: Will Shortz, Jon Stewart, The Indigo Girls, Bill Clinton, Bob Dole, Mike Mussina, Ken Burns
The Basics: You'd think that a documentary about people obsessed with crossword puzzles would be a total nerdtronic freak show, like that one about Star Trek fans called Trekkies. Or worse, the terrifying Cinemania, the one about obsessive filmgoers. But these folks just seem like run-of-the-mill nerds with scary puzzle-solving skills. It's funny, too, but not in the laugh at them way.
What's the Deal? It's the job of celebrities to try to make you think they're smart, in addition to whatever else it is they're talented at. This movie has famous people in it who are obviously pretty smart, like Clinton and Stewart. But did you ever think The Indigo Girls sat around devouring the super-hard Sunday edition of the New York Times crossword puzzle? Apparently, between womyn's music festivals, this is something they spend their free time doing. I like that about them.
Weirdest Famous Person Interview: Fellow documentarian Ken Burns gets all philosophical about the nature and beauty of language and the precision of crossword puzzles and blah, blah, blah, uniting all humanity, blah. All it does is make you wonder whether he talks like this at Target when he's buying toothpaste.
Why It's the Most Depressing Movie of 2006: If you're like me and can't even fill in the TV Guide crossword puzzle when it's "The Brady _______," it will make you feel like an idiot.
Did You Know? That if you rearrange the letters in "Dunkin' Donuts," you get the phrase "unkind donuts"? This is something one of the puzzle-creators explains in the movie.