There are lots of fly-on-the-wall documentaries. But occasionally there’s one that makes you want to ask the fly: Just HOW did you get onto that wall, and how did you manage to stay there?
In the case of “Weiner,” the compulsively watchable new film about Anthony Weiner and the implosion of his 2013 New York mayoral run amid a revival of his sexting scandal, part of the answer is clear. Director Josh Kriegman once worked for Weiner, who was forced to resign his congressional seat in 2011. And Weiner clearly hoped Kriegman and co-director Elyse Steinberg would be documenting an inspiring comeback.
At first, it seemed like they were, as the charismatic Weiner chipped away at public skepticism (if not the media’s) and climbed to the top of the polls. Then it all came crashing down, as more lurid photos and text exchanges emerged, some that occurred after Weiner’s resignation. And for some reason, Weiner and his wife, Huma Abedin—a longtime top aide to Hillary Clinton, and current vice chair of her presidential campaign—let the filmmakers keep going.
As Kriegman himself asks at one low point, inches away from the miserable couple in their own kitchen:
“Why are you letting me film this?”
