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Merchants of Doubt

  • 2014
  • PG-13
  • 1h 36m
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
4K
YOUR RATING
Merchants of Doubt (2014)
A documentary that looks at pundits-for-hire who present themselves as scientific authorities as they speak about topics like toxic chemicals, pharmaceuticals and climate change.
Play trailer1:59
13 Videos
29 Photos
Documentary

A documentary that looks at pundits-for-hire who present themselves as scientific authorities as they speak about topics like toxic chemicals, pharmaceuticals and climate change.A documentary that looks at pundits-for-hire who present themselves as scientific authorities as they speak about topics like toxic chemicals, pharmaceuticals and climate change.A documentary that looks at pundits-for-hire who present themselves as scientific authorities as they speak about topics like toxic chemicals, pharmaceuticals and climate change.

  • Director
    • Robert Kenner
  • Writers
    • Erik M. Conway
    • Robert Kenner
    • Naomi Oreskes
  • Stars
    • Frederick Singer
    • Naomi Oreskes
    • Jamy Ian Swiss
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.6/10
    4K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Robert Kenner
    • Writers
      • Erik M. Conway
      • Robert Kenner
      • Naomi Oreskes
    • Stars
      • Frederick Singer
      • Naomi Oreskes
      • Jamy Ian Swiss
    • 32User reviews
    • 46Critic reviews
    • 70Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 4 nominations total

    Videos13

    Trailer
    Trailer 1:59
    Trailer
    Hate Mail
    Clip 1:04
    Hate Mail
    Hate Mail
    Clip 1:04
    Hate Mail
    Hard Pill To Swallow
    Clip 1:17
    Hard Pill To Swallow
    Regulation
    Clip 0:41
    Regulation
    My Expertise In Deception
    Clip 1:02
    My Expertise In Deception
    Scape Goat
    Clip 1:07
    Scape Goat

    Photos29

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    Top cast19

    Edit
    Frederick Singer
    Frederick Singer
    • Self
    • (as Fred Singer)
    Naomi Oreskes
    Naomi Oreskes
    • Self - Professor of the History of Science
    Jamy Ian Swiss
    • Self - Magician and Magic Historian
    Sam Roe
    • Self - Journalist, Chicago Tribune
    Stanton A. Glantz
    Stanton A. Glantz
    • Self
    • (as Stanton Glantz)
    Patricia Callahan
    • Self - Journalist, Chicago Tribune
    James Hansen
    James Hansen
    • Self - Climate Scientist
    John Passacantando
    • Self - Former Executive Director, Greenpeace USA
    Bill O'Keefe
    • Self - Former Chairman of Global Climate Coalition
    Michael Shermer
    Michael Shermer
    • Self - Founder of The Skeptics Society
    James Taylor
    • Self - Self-Proclaimed Science and Economical Expert, Heartland Institute
    Matthew Crawford
    • Self - Former Executive Director of the George C. Marshall Institute
    Marc Morano
    • Self - Self-Proclaimed Environmental Journalist
    Benjamin Santer
    • Self - Climate Scientist
    • (as Ben Santer)
    Michael E. Mann
    Michael E. Mann
    • Self - Climate Scientist
    • (as Michael Mann)
    Katharine Heyhoe
    • Self - Climate Scientist
    Tim Phillips
    • Self - Chairman, Americans for Prosperity
    Bob Inglis
    Bob Inglis
    • Self - Republican Politician
    • Director
      • Robert Kenner
    • Writers
      • Erik M. Conway
      • Robert Kenner
      • Naomi Oreskes
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews32

    7.64K
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    Featured reviews

    8maxflat83

    Entertaining and engaging and does a great job of illuminating the issue

    I made the mistake of reading the user reviews before watching and was expecting a mediocre film. Thankfully it was much better than that. I found it to be thoroughly interesting and entertaining while doing a great job of detailing the depth of scumbaggery and deception behind the climate change denialist movement.

    The imagery, interview editing, flow of the narrative, choice of people to interview, camera work were all outstanding. I highly recommend that anyone who is not already committed to denialism watch it. Some might find some parts shocking but overwhelmingly the evidence points to the views expressed in this film being correct.
    8mcaponi-66213

    Big Money vs. Science

    I wasn't thrilled with the magic tricks being blended in to this excellent expose of science denial funded by big business. It just distracted from the excellent content showing strategic manipulation of the public and legislation by unbelievably conscience-less minions, starting with big tobacco and followed by flame retardant chemicals and climate change science. As a movie I would rate it lower but the material presented was worth more, thus the 8 stars. One tidbit from the film: the average American sofa contains 2 POUNDS of flame retardant chemicals. These of course escape into the bodies that use the furniture and into the air around the furniture, resulting in American babies being born with HUGE levels of these chemicals compared to babies born in any other country on earth. It also showed how the "lessons" learned by big tobacco's 50 years of successfully suppressing science has been replicated repeatedly across many industries. If there is a hell, this film highlights several folks who should end up there.
    8sirjonk

    My fellow reviewers are sad people

    The doc is enlightening, and timely. I worked in the tobacco litigation and this film gets it spot on. In the face of near universal consensus, tobacco companies hired marketing firms and paid scientists to poke holes in prevailing well established theory, attempting to cast doubt where anything less than 100% certainty exists, which in science, it essentially always does.

    Now the climate change deniers come out, in the face of 97% worldwide consensus, peddling the same nonsense. The doubters don't contest the data, which is indisputable. They instead attack the motives of 97% of the climatologists in the world. And their intended audience buys it hook line and sinker yet again.

    Reasonable doubt is essential to science, and in that meritocracy, the best explanation wins. Here, decades of data have made the situation clear. Yet, climate denier laymen, for some reason, choose to believe the 3% of scientists who are largely funded by the interests most likely to suffer financial harm should alternative energy be explored in full.

    You can't fix stupid.
    8jessefrickinfurlong

    Merchants of Doubt is a worthwhile, though depressing film.

    Kenner tells us that big oil is using the same tactics – and often the same personnel – as big tobacco: set up any number of supposedly independent thinktanks, get plausible professionals on the (mouthwatering) payroll, and just sow the seeds of doubt. You undermine conviction, filibuster government action, fog public opinion, get brazen blowhards to shout loudly on Fox News. And the people best at this are the ageing, neocon attack dogs, veterans of the tobacco wars, who in the evening of their lives find a thrilling new purpose in climate change doubt-production.
    8jrdnyc

    Why does it even have to come to this?

    Merchants of Doubt

    Of course, there are scientists on both sides that exaggerate, but everyone knows that climate change is real, and that humans are the main cause. Ice core matches up perfectly with the start of the Industrial Revolution-(hint: that's the big one), as well as other volcanic eruptions that date further back in history; which also caused the climate to change. So that's not even a question anymore. Go back to school if you don't believe me. It's never too late. Take some environmental science courses. That way, you can just argue all your bs to the teacher. And when s/he kicks you out of the class for holding everyone back, you'll still be a hero somewhere in Texas.

    Weather is analyzed on a day to day basis. Climate is the study of those patterns over a long period of time. Climate change is probably a better term to use than global warming, only because people can grasp the meaning better. The United States had the hottest summer on record last year. It also had the coldest February, this year, than it has had in the last 80 to 100 years, in most states. Climate change does not mean it's just going to be hot all the time. It means the climate will change more often. We will see severe patterns of weather more frequently.

    I like how this documentary ties in the PR aspect. The only reason climate change became a political issue is because of the effects it has on business.

    Merchants of Doubt

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    Related interests

    Dziga Vertov in Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
    Documentary

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Goofs
      Roughly 59 minutes into the documentary it cuts to an interview with James Taylor of the Heartland Institute. In the background an office worker in a mobility scooter reverses into doorway.
    • Quotes

      James Hansen: What we're up against is people who have a preferred answer, and so then they take the position of a lawyer. They're going to defend their client and they will only present you with the data that favors their client.

    • Connections
      Referenced in Film Junk Podcast: Episode 541: The Night Before (2015)

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    FAQ18

    • How long is Merchants of Doubt?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • December 12, 2014 (United Kingdom)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Şüphe Tüccarları
    • Production company
      • Participant
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $308,156
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $20,300
      • Mar 8, 2015
    • Gross worldwide
      • $308,156
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 36m(96 min)
    • Color
      • Color

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