''Freakonomics: The Movie'' is a 2010 American

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

based on the 2005 book '' Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything'' by

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...

Steven D. Levitt and

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

Stephen J. Dubner. The film premiered at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was f ...

in April 2010 and had a theatrical release later in the year. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has an approval rating of 66% based on reviews from 64 critics.

Segments

# ''A Roshanda by Any Other Name:'' Directed by

Morgan Spurlock Morgan Valentine Spurlock (born November 7, 1970) is an American documentary filmmaker, humorist, television producer, screenwriter and playwright. Spurlock's films include '' Super Size Me'' (2004), '' Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden?'' ( ...

, this segment investigates the possible implications of names in personal development and social advancement. # ''Pure Corruption:'' Directed by Alex Gibney, this segment explores the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

concept of ''yaochō'' ( match fixing) in sumo wrestling. # ''It's Not Always a Wonderful Life'': Narrated by

Melvin Van Peebles Melvin Van Peebles (born Melvin Peebles; August 21, 1932 – September 21, 2021) was an American actor, filmmaker, writer, and composer. He worked as an active filmmaker into the 2000s. His feature film debut, '' The Story of a Three-Day Pass'' ...

and directed by

Eugene Jarecki Eugene Jarecki (born October 5, 1969) is an American filmmaker and author. He is best known as a two-time winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, as well as multiple Emmy and Peabody Awards, for his films '' Why We Fight'', ''Reagan'', and '' T ...

, this segment explores the question of what led to a decline in the urban crime rate in the US during the mid- to late-1990s. The authors of ''Freakonomics'' suggest that a substantial factor was the 1973 US Supreme Court case ''

Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and s ...

'', which conferred the right to choose to have an

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

. # ''Can You Bribe a 9th Grader to Succeed?'' Director and filmmaker

Rachel Grady Rachel () was a Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban. Her older sister was Leah, Jacob's first wife. Her aun ...

documented an experiment in Chicago Heights, Illinois, to determine the efficacy of paying students to achieve higher grades.

Cast

* Carl Alleyne as Boyfriend * Zoe Sloane as Blake * Adesuwa Addy Iyare as Temptress’ Mother * Jade Viggiano as High School Girl * Sammuel Soifer as Jake * Jalani McNair as Loser * Andrew Greiche as Jake * Alyssa Wheeldon as High School Girl * Greg Crowe as Johnny the Mechanic * Hassan Brown as Father * Kelli Chaves as High School Girl * Amancaya Aguilar as Mercedes *

Kellie Gerardi Kellie Gerardi is an American aerospace, defense, and technology professional and a popular science communicator. She is a citizen scientist and conducts bioastronautics research and spacesuit evaluation in microgravity with the International I ...

as Lexus * Rick Owens as "Tad Guy"

References

External links

Official U.S. Site
* 2010 documentary films 2010 films Films based on non-fiction books Documentary films about economics Films directed by Alex Gibney Films directed by Seth Gordon Films directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady Films directed by Eugene Jarecki Films directed by Morgan Spurlock Films scored by Michael Wandmacher 2010s English-language films {{2010s-documentary-film-stub