Maxed Out

Maxed Out

2006
Documentary
1h 30m
Maxed Out takes viewers on a journey deep inside the American style of debt, where things seem fine as long as the minimum monthly payment arrives on time. With coverage that spans from small American towns all the way to the White House, the film shows how the modern financial industry really works, explains the true definition of "preferred customer" and tells us why the poor are getting poorer while the rich keep getting richer. Hilarious, shocking and incisive, Maxed Out paints a picture of a national nightmare which is all too real for most of us. (Red Envelope Entertainment)
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Maxed Out

2006
Documentary
1h 30m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 47.36% from 112 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(112)
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Rated 19 Mar 2012
55
32nd
It was pretty well made, it looked nice, pulled some heart strings, had recognizable names make points (i.e. CK and Spitzer), but ultimately wasn't as gripping as it could have been. When a documentary has a message (which this clearly does) it should offer ideas or solutions to the problem. Instead this just gave us the obvious, poor people shouldn't buy things they can't afford and credit card companies are assholes. Nothing groundbreaking.
Rated 06 Aug 2011
25
15th
I get it. Credit card companies try to make money by any means necessary. My problem with "Maxed Out" is that it makes this point and this point alone. It doesn't look into personal responsibility at all. Making the credit companies seem especially evil for not loaning money out for free and penalizing those who don't repay most severely of all. There's no effort to show the human side of the story, outside of the extremes where people run from their debts by ruining or ending their lives.
Rated 21 Jan 2012
55
45th
Loved the cameo from Louis C.K., but outside of that one side of this documentary really does provide some decent amount of insight into the subject of credit card debt while the other seems to be more like "Super Size Me". If you eat nothing but McDonalds you're going to get fat, and if you take out huge loans with the knowledge that you're not going to be able to pay them back then you're really fucking yourself over. It's that easy. And don't blame capitalism, blame the lobbyists.
Rated 01 Apr 2012
30
3rd
I'm torn about this because I think the documentary provides some interesting information, but it is a VERY skewed narrative on credit card debt and policies. I prefer my documentaries be impartial, but it is clear that Maxed Out totally sides with the consumer and takes the position that the banks are evil. Yes, banks do despicable things -- none of which include forcing consumers to borrow their money. I really feel for these people, but there needs to be some personal accountability.
Rated 04 Nov 2010
66
51st
Decent enough documentary with some sad pappy credit card stories.
Rated 07 Jun 2008
60
10th
Was it effective in presenting the dangers of debt in America? For the most part, yes. But that alone doesn't make it a great film: It lacked an interesting narrative voice like Michael Moore in Roger & Me, and considering it's a 90 minute film, I didn't think it provided many useful insights after the first half -- the second half was just more depressing stories about families in debt.
Rated 14 Oct 2018
24
2nd
When using specious, emotive reasoning to pin the suicide of children onto the 'evil banks', it is reprehensible not to touch on the problematic and unreasonable capitalistic wonts, and either deliberate or accidental lack of financial education, of modern consumers. While it is hard to root for credit card providers, conveniently omitting the nature of the debts that the most unfortunate cases presented here have established gives the film the feel of a sloppy hit job.
Rated 11 Jul 2008
85
76th
Hilarious and heart breaking. I thank God for Dave Ramsey.
Rated 30 Jul 2010
75
54th
Decent documentary, and required viewing if you aren't too familiar with the topics covered.
Rated 22 Dec 2011
68
24th
This film is alright. It shows the very big debt problem in the USA. The film gets repetitive after awhile and doesn't really hold your interest for the entire length.
Rated 21 Nov 2010
20
41st
"Maxed Out is more ambitious than Morgan Spurlock's egotistical Super Size Me, but its also more scatterbrained." - Ed Gonzalez
Rated 05 Nov 2008
75
47th
What about self control and self reliance? Very one sided and anti-Bush, anti-corporation but at the same time very entertaining.
Rated 21 May 2008
60
32nd
A well-put-together documentary that is clearly one-sided and very repetitive.
Rated 09 Feb 2011
73
44th
Screw credit cards. I've gotten into trouble with them (but was lucky to find my way out from under it all), and know first hand how shitty the companies and their policies are. Though this movie doesn't tell me anything I didn't already know, it's good to see some backlash in the form of a decent documentary. I hope every college student watches this.
Rated 04 Mar 2011
60
58th
Again, yet another documentary arguing semantically what could be blanketed by simply stating: Capitalism is inherently bad. It's amazing how many filmmakers make these docs yet fail to see the direct correlation of evil and how it's attributed to very foundational fundamentals of this economic system. It is IMPOSSIBLE to have ethics in capitalism and instead of pointing fingers at "bad apples" forever, i think it may be time to re-shape the paradigm into something better.
Rated 13 Aug 2014
90
81st
There's a case to be made that films like this preach to the converted, but no one finds fault that tax-exempt mega-churches preach to the converted, and these kinds of films are at least making steps to satisfy an informative role the corporate media snubs. Besides, there were certain fine points stated directly in this film that I didn't know, that maybe I should've.

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