Waiting for Superman - B+

In theaters. Rated PG, 102 minutes. Trailer.

Noted documentarian David Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth, spouse of Elizabeth Shue) has made a shockingly candid and conservative leaning film about the state of public education in America. He starts the film honestly by outing himself as someone that drives by 3 public schools to take his kids to a private school (so do I) and then turns his attention to 5 kids living in different parts of the country with a common theme - the schools in their neighborhood are terrible. Click below for more Superman:

He also reveals that education spending on a per pupil basis has more than doubled in the last 40 years (even after adjusting for inflation), but test scores remain the same. The film doesn't provide a clear solution to the mess, but offers charter schools as the best possibility. It does, however, place blame for the problems squarely on the teachers unions (if Guggenheim was a Republican, this film would be getting ripped by the liberal establishment). Each of the kids has at least someone that loves them and is interested in their education, which puts them way ahead of most kids.

Some of the kids are compelling, others not so much. The film uses clever graphics and interesting statistics that show the issues. The main flaw of the film's argument is the glaring lack of blame placed on the lack of father figures in the worst districts and the role of the traditional family in a successful student. The trailer for this film is an A; the film has way too many slow parts and not enough substance to sustain that momentum.

Random note: I am watching A Few Good Men - what the heck is Chrisopher Guest doing as an expert witness in this movie?