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Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer

★★★

Director: Alex Gibney
Year: 2010

I was really looking forward to this documentary just because of how juicy the subject matter is. I think the only problem the director and editor ran into is what to do with the tremendous amount of information. They could have done a better job editing it together and deciding which part of the story to tell versus trying to cram everything into this film.

The parts that I did love is near the end when we finally get into the scandal and how it played out. The possibility of this huge conspiracy from his enemies. How there have been countless other politicians who have done the same thing but have not lost their offices.  Why Eliot Spitzer? When a prostitution ring goes down, they never go after the ‘johns’ but why did they go after Spitzer? I loved the section of what notes were leaked to the press, just enough to peak their curiosity and for the New York Times to win a Pulitzer breaking the story.

And I really liked Wrenn Schmidt, who was the only actress in this film, playing Spitzer’s favorite call girl. Not Ashley Dupree, but his real favorite. Her performance was terrific. And I enjoyed learning that Ashley only had that one infamous date, but she took advantage of it and made it her payday.

So, some amazing interviews. I’m shocked at how open Spitzer is to the camera as well as how successfully they scored all of the interviews. But way too much information for this film. Maybe if it was a mini-series.

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