MOVIE - "Wordplay"

It was inevitable that Will Shortz, the crossword editor of The New York Times (and uber-puzzler), would become the subject of a documentary. Not only is he the herald of what is called "the gold standard of crosswords" but he's a proud major in the little-studied field of enigmatology. If this funny looking man of the mustache is the "Errol Flynn of crossword puzzles, then this film, Wordplay, is his Captain Blood. It is a film studded with celebrity cameos (if you consider Jon Stewart, Bill Clinton, and the Indigo Girls to be celebrities) and with the adult versions of those adorably quirky spellers from Spellbound.

It is a film as solidly constructed as any New York Times crossword, complete with a themed gimmick (in this case, a split-screen that lets you solve clues along with the "professionals" of the crossword championships). In fact, it is so solid that people like Jon Stewart, with their exuberant showmanship ("Bring it Shortz, bring it!") wind up being the crudest parts of the film. A good documentary gives you a glimpse into the lives of real people, like long-time puzzler Ellen Ripstein, or crossword whiz Trip Payne. And while the whole movie may only serve to stress a point about the accumulation of useless knowledge, it also shows a tightly knit community of people who find solace on a gridded, symmetrical page.

Read on at [Film Monthly]