Weiner

As a New Yorker who voted in the mayoral election that is depicted in this film.....ahhh, if I had only known better.

Weiner is a politician who had a sex/porn/internet problem and it didn't disappear the minute he was publicly disgraced. Yet, he was an excellent politician, without a doubt a better candidate than the one I voted for. And yet, the story that was most in the news at the time (and shown in this film) was his poor judgement about his personal life, and negligible press about his competency as a champion for the middle class. Furthermore, the timeline of the Sydney Leathers relationship was hardly prominent. I hadn't realized it was over a year earlier. (Albeit better if it had been five years earlier though.)

History is replete with great leaders who had amoral sex lives, not the least Harding who had an illegitimate child shortly before his election as our 29th president. We won't even discuss what happened in JFK's life, and yet the public forgives him.

In no way do I think Weiner should be condoned for acting so inappropriately while being a public servant, but it would also be great if we could focus on POLITICAL competency instead of extramarital sexual blunders. As I see it, when Donald Trump is the GOP nominee with all his sexual improprieties, obviously it's all about the media. And to me, that is the true essence of this documentary. IT IS ALL ABOUT THE MEDIA.

My takeaway, although cliché, is that it's the media's storyline, which panders to the readers' lowest common interest -- bringing serious consequences to our politics today.

Many politicians have been caught up in scandals, but few have been quite as comical as Anthony Weiner's scandal. He would have been mocked a lot less if he had just cheated with his secretary like other politicians.

While that level of embarrassment would have made me hide in a bunker, Weiner got back on the political horse. As a New Yorker, I was shocked when he entered the mayoral race, and stunned when it looked like he might actually win the nomination.

This documentary follows Weiner's surprising resurgence and less surprising second crash. It's a fascinating movie. Weiner is a natural politician who knows how to work a crowd, but he's also a sex addict who, for all his apologies, seemed never able to accept that he had a problem needing addressing. His wife Huma seems lovely, and much of the movie consists of her looking as though she really, really wants to punch Weiner in the face. We watch the campaign staff as they discover they have signed up for a train wreck. We see Sydney Leathers trying to come across as the aggrieved party while simultaneously using the publicity to start a porn career.

Weiner is an interesting guy, and I think New Yorkers rejected for him less for his sexual compulsion than for his lying about it. In a way it seems as though his denial is a tragic flaw that made Weiner his own worst enemy. It's sad, and my heart breaks for Huma. But let's be honest, it's still one of the most amusing scandals we've had.

Everybody knows that politics and political figures are so common with scandal, corruption, and bribes, and you guessed it sex scandals! And the world again was rocked with one Anthony Weiner! This eye opening and interesting film called "Weiner" looks at how the media and scandal of texts and photos and nude pictures help bring down a former congressman and mayoral candidate. The news footage is nearly from every network and the interviews are a compelling saga and the way the camera follows around Anthony and wife Huma is so interesting as you the viewer can feel the tension and pain between the two as the scandals break, and the speak and words from the mouth of Weiner confirm that he is a destroyed and beaten man. Most of you who follow the news know the story in 2010 a hacker and media outlet had broke news that Anthony Weiner had texted and snapped pictures of his erect and hard penis thru his underwear and the incident would cause him to resign from congress and then later in 2013 when he got back in the game or his "New York Grove" the next scandal hit online on a website from a source a young girl named Sydney Leathers who's an attractive big breasted girl that exchanged text nude pictures and even admitted to phone sex with Anthony. And you guessed it this would destroy his mayoral campaign and political life, yet thru it all Huma would stand by her man. Overall near excellent film that shows how a vice when revealed and exposed can destroy your profession and bring you down in life never being the same as some like Anthony Weiner never learn as the habit is so hard to break!

I really like the documentary because it does not editorialize. There is not one voice over in the whole thing. It is just Anthony Weiner ramping up his attempt to win the Democratic Mayoral primary, which in New York, is tantamount to winning the mayor's race since the city is overwhelmingly Democratic. Weiner had been the seven term liberal firebrand of a Democratic congressman from Brooklyn until a case of him sexting a woman along with pictures of his private parts came to light and caused him to resign in disgrace in 2011.

His campaign starts out with hope in the spring of 2013, but soon with his rise in the polls, more sexting by Weiner rises to the surface because he is in the limelight again. He tries to paper over it, and the documentary lets you see him trying to paper over it, by saying that he had already said he had problems in his marriage and that he had never said exactly when the sexting problem began and ended. This sounded too much like "it depends on what your definition of is is" from the Clinton years and he crashed and burned politically, winding up in the single digits on primary day.

This is no fluff piece. You see Weiner lose his temper, get involved in shouting matches with a guy in a Deli, and with Lawrence O'Donnell on liberal friendly MSNBC. Weiner thinks it makes him look like a fighter, instead it comes across as a refusal to face his problems. And as for his wife Huma Abadin, I just felt so sorry for her. Weiner must be surely suffering from an addiction if he is chasing after random women on the internet with such a smart sexy lady as his wife. After the more recent sexting comes to light, Huma never really says anything, but you can tell by her posture and look of indifference that she is likely mad as hell under that calm cool exterior. Worse, she is probably profoundly disappointed in someone who had regained her trust.

One particular scene said it all for me as to Weiner's self centeredness. When the additional sexting comes to light he tells Huma he wants her with him all day. Not because he is worried about her mental state or needs her emotional support, but because he is "afraid someone (the press) will get to her".

It's too bad that such a narcissist and sex addict was also rolled into the personality of somebody who seemed to genuinely care about average people, had an average upbringing so he knew where other people were coming from, and was willing to fight for what he thought was right. What a waste.

At first glance, the film seems to be about how a promising congressman from New York destroyed his political career because of inappropriate postings on the internet. It is to some extent, but it is also about how the media can build up someone in one moment and tear that same person down the next. The film won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

"Weiner" begins with archival footage of Anthony Weiner as the liberal firebrand on the floor of the House. Having not known much about Rep. Weiner before the scandal, this was eye-opening to me. Here you really see what he could have become had the scandal not occurred.

From that point on, the film follows the subject from the initial scandal up until the aftermath of his New York mayoral run. As expected, the film shows numerous clips about Weiner during this critical time in his career and the media circus that ensued. However, what really makes the film compelling is the behind-the-scenes footage between Weiner, his campaign staff and his family. You really feel like a "fly on the wall" eavesdropping on some very personal discussions. The film was co-directed and shot by Josh Kriegman, who once served as Weiner's chief-of-staff. Kriegman and his co- director Elyse Steinberg, were given unprecedented access. What does go is so personal and intense that at one point in the film, Kriegman even asks Weiner why he is even allowing them to continue shooting.

"Weiner," while infuriating sometimes to watch, is a wild ride of a character-study filled with contradictions. On the one hand, Anthony Weiner seems to be fully aware of the damage he has inflicted to his career and his family, but at other times appears quite delusional. Seeing "Weiner" is like watching a slow moving train wreck. You know what is going to happen, but you watch it anyway to see how it happens.

This film definitely falls into the category of "truth is stranger than fiction." It's hard to imagine another personality in recent history that is so unfiltered and self-absorbed in his quest for higher office, with the exception of a fellow named, Donald Trump.

This is not just a film about Anthony Weiner, but a critique at how the mainstream media values style and sensationalism over substance. This is evidenced in a sequence that occurs toward the end of the film that must be seen to be believed. In short, "Weiner" is a fascinating character-study and must be considered an early awards favorite.