Wild Card: The Downfall of a Radio Loudmouth

"Wild Card - The Downfall of a Radio Loudmouth" (2020 release; 76 min.) is a documentary about the life and times of Craig Carton, the erstwhile radio sports shock-jock. As the movie opens, Carton is in a penitentiary, doing time (but we don't know for what). In a voice -over, Carton says he wants to tell his side of the story, the full story. We go back in time, to 2007, when he and Boomer Esiason launch the "Boomer & Carton" sports talk show on New York's WFAN radio, and soon became the talk of the town. We then go back even further in time to "New Rochelle, NY, 1970s", as Carton recalls his middle class upbringing but also his personal demons from that time... At this point we are 10 min. into the documentary.

Couple of comments: this documentary is written and directed by Martin Dunn and Marie McGovern, the same team that brought us last year's "Seaver" sports documentary. Here they look at the life and times of Craig Carton, a sports radio talk show host who apparently was very good at being a radio show host, but not so much at other things, including a self-destructive gambling addition (blackjack, in particular), which led to his spectacular fall from grace (into hard jail time). Given the notoriety of this guy in New York City, it may well be that New Yorkers will be fascinated by this. I had vaguely heard of this guy, and only because he teamed up on the radio with Boomer Esiason, yes the erstwhile Cincinnati Bengals QB (I live in Cincinnati, and saw Boomer lead them into Super Bowl XXIII back in the day--I was at that Super Bowl!). But other than that, I found this documentary mildly interesting at best. I will give credit to Carton for owning up to all he did wrong. He is not hiding behind anything or blaming others.

"Wild Card - The Downfall of a Radio Loudmouth" premiered this week on HBO and is now available on HBO On Demand and other streaming services. If you have any interest in sports or in a "radio loudmouth" (the New York kind, in particular), I'd readily suggest you check this out and draw your own conclusion.

What are we supposed to feel sorry for this guy? It was ALL self inflicted! Why can't HBO do shows on people that have overcome tremendous hardships in life that made a huge difference and contributions helping others have a better life. First responders, cops, military, kids with diseases who came through REAL hardships to do great things in life. Not some loud mouth looser!

To call this a documentary is a stretch as it seems to have been almost entirely based on stories from Craig, the fraud, who the documentary is supposed to be looking at. Unverifiable stories about being such a good gambler that people invested their money into his skills. His whole legal problem was a simple mixup off funds. Yeah right. HBO normally puts out such good stuff, but this diminished their brand.

Wow. A puff piece to make this loser a victim. Don't waste your time unless you are fan and want to excuse him.

A story about self-pity and self promotion.

'Wild card' is a waste of time. Totally indifferent.

Why anyone would ever listen to this loadmouth and his annoying voice on any radio is inconceivable.