Micitype Pretty Good

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Rachel Bolyard The American Dream is classified as rising above what you started with. The Queen of Versailles is a documentary about living life on a pedestal and shows what the American Dream is all about. It also shows us how the American Dream can easily be turned into a nightmare. The documentary follows billionaire David Siegel, 74, his significantly younger wife, Jaqueline Siegel, and their eight kids (one of which was inherited). David owns the largest privately owned timeshare company in the world, and the fruit of his labor is very obvious. He and his family have private jets, yachts, a big house, multiple nannies and help, many pets, and an excessive amount of clothes and personal belongings. On top of it all, the couple is building what turns out to be the largest home in America. It's modeled after the palace in Versailles and it is 90,000 square feet. When asked why David wanted to build it, he says, "Because I can." Lorraine Barrett, a real estate agent, claims that "it's the jewel of the United States." During interviews, David immediately gives the impression that he is one of the most important people in the world and that his way of life is the most sensible one. When talking about lower- class people, he explains that, "If they don't want to feel rich, then they're probably dead." But not everyone in the household feels this way. Jonquil, their inherited daughter, came into the family from nothing. She says, "There's nothing normal about rich life." She brought reality to the family and humbled them. She says she doesn't want to be spoiled. Jacqueline also came from nothing, growing up in New York in a three bedroom one bathroom home. But she has embraced the royal-like lifestyle. She first met David through people in her modeling career, and she claims that they have a great relationship. In 2008, the stock market crashed, and chaos ensued. Alan Greenspan said it was a "once in a century financial crisis." The Siegels were no exception to being affected by this disaster. Since the company, as David says, was built on cheap money (money from banks), the company quickly went into debt and the banks did not relent. Jaqueline says, "I almost feel like the bankers are like vultures, like circling around waiting for the animal to die instead of helping out the situation." The family had to make major cutbacks on shopping, sell most of their assets such as their jets and yachts. David says that "I'm a victim of my own success, or failures." What this documentary does well is depict this family as the royals they feel like. David is instantly shown as the self- righteous "king," and his wife is immediately pictured as the trophy wife. However, as the movie progresses, it can be seen that the real victim in the relationship is in fact Jaqueline. One of their own children claims that he only married her for her looks and to show her off. Jaqueline genuinely loves him and believes that they are in love. He obviously has more interest in his business and success than in her. He even says in an interview that he doesn't draw any strength from their marriage during the hard times. The documentary also does a good job of showing how each of the members of the family is affected, as well as everyone involved in the timeshare company. The documentary shows that an economical crisis can affect anyone, even the once-financially sound. Although the documentary does show different aspects of the results of the crisis, the movie tends to jump around a little too much. The documentary shifts from focuses on the Siegels, then to families outside of the Siegels, and then back to the Siegels. The viewer expects that the main point of the movie is going to be how the Siegels are affected, not how everyone else is. However, even with the shifting focal points, the documentary still shows the issue at hand in a very real light. In conclusion, the documentary is worth watching. Even though at times the interviews and scenes are comical, the flaws and faults of humans are revealed throughout the movie. People are attracted to money and success, even at the risk of failure. The documentary tracks the process of the Siegels coping in a new lifestyle, and it shows that relying too much on one thing can be the end if things go south. Not one person is safe from anything. Unfortunately, the feeling of being invincible is another human flaw, and The Queen of Versailles shows us that invincible is simply something we're not.

rooprect After reading the top 2 IMDb reviews for this documentary using words like "appalling", "revolting", "tasteless", "classless" and everything short of "Nazi" to describe the subjects, I figured this would be a fun way to forget my own financial inadequacies by relishing in the multi-million dollar tragedy of a bunch of monsters who deserve to suck slime. So with that in mind I poured myself a cup of fresh blood and got my vampire on.Immediately I was "disappointed" because, aside from having a pair of ivory tusks displayed in their living room, these people didn't display anything worthy of being flogged publicly as I was led to believe. Sure, their lifestyle was extravagant to a fault. But, ask any third-world kid who can't afford a pair of shoes, and you'll learn that extravagance is relative. No matter, thought I, wiping some drool off my non-designer jeans, this show is just getting started; I'm sure they'll spit on a few beggars in good time!Actually quite the opposite. As the family begins to realize it's financial decay, instead of telling the laid-off employees to eat cake, Jackie actually started donating goods and volunteering at a local charity for their benefit. Aw man, way to kill a good feeding frenzy, thought I. Well, at least I can still hate her for all the excessive cosmetic treatments she keeps getting for her own vanity. Oops, wrong again. Those of us paying attention soon realize that she's not doing it for sheer vanity's sake but to try to please her husband as psychologically she seems insecure in that department. And as we learn more about the titular Queen of Versailles, we see many parallels between her and the other unfortunate queen, Marie Antoinette in her paper mâché marriage to Louis XVI. Yes, the interpersonal drama runs thick, between all family members in different ways. And just as the French eventually realized that they maybe went a little too far with that whole guillotine thing, you see that the Siegels, while guilty of clueless indulgence yes, don't nevessarily deserve to get their financial heads lopped off. These people are not aberrations of humankind as you'd been led to believe by some reviews, but instead, this is the story of a normal American family that has been subjected to abnormal extremes.True, the husband (a man of 1 emotion: stoic), did at one point talk about how he personally got Bush re-elected by means that "may not have been legal", but he immediately counters it with "but then we got involved in this Iraqi War, so maybe I didn't do that much good after all." That statement is the key to understanding this powerful documentary. It is NOT a spectacle of seeing Emperors thrown to the lions. Rather, it is a very Faustian tale of pride and arrogance that gets the best of humans, and humans eventually accepting or at least admitting to the possibility that they were wrong. I'm talking about all humans, not just these people.I have to hand it to the tragic family for bearing their downfall much more nobly than their rise. In the end (especially after watching the deleted scenes showing more of their human side), I felt good--not because I had just witnessed a gruesome car crash like other viewers, but because these people (except maybe 1 individual? I won't spoil) had all evolved into something better.In that respect, this is a very complex story which requires your full attention. It's not like a sporting event that has 1 good guy, 1 bad guy and 1 outcome. It's really one of the best illustrations of pride under pressure. And although my greatest financial hurdle consists of how to pay my $75 parking ticket, I can somehow associate with these ex-billionaires on how money, and lack thereof, changes us all.

evening1 The most amazing thing about this documentary is that the principals, David and Jaqueline Siegel, allowed so much access into their homes and unraveling lives. When the film begins, the May-December pair is sitting on top of the world -- she quite beautiful and happily managing a brood of eight children, he building a palace with a view of Disney World's fireworks that would be the biggest house in the world. He still seems to appreciate his hyper-sexy wife, who boasts obvious breast implants that she displays in clingy, low-cut dresses.By the end of the film, David Siegel is looking much worse for the wear. He sits alone in a disheveled home office, eating dinner from a tray, griping about petty wastes of money, such as when a family member leaves a door ajar. Due to crises in the economy, he has lost a lot of his fortune and is working to stave off bank creditors and foreclosure. This saturnine figure who freely admits he cannot separate business from family won't even give his wife a kiss.The film paints a highly poignant portrait of Jackie, who says she married a man 30 years her senior strictly for love. Apparently suffering from a need to shop compulsively, despite her family's financial woes, she is often shown gamely approaching her husband and trying to humor him or make a vain stab at chat.A great sense of sadness seems to pervade this clan, whose children nevertheless appear to have come through it all pretty well. One feels for the tunnel-visioned David and hopes that Jackie will somehow find some peace.

pica1-674-469978 I just finished watching the best horror film I've seen in many years. More than all the aliens popping out of stomachs and giant lizards, the Siegel story is reality. I fortunately do not know anyone this delusional, but I know they exist. They fueled the economic bubble It was they, not the rapacious bankers, who burst that bubble. A perfectly American tale. I have no idea if the producers started out to trash this disgusting family, but the point was made beautifully. What's really scary is that each time we turn on the TV to watch yet another "crazy rich folks" reality show...and watch with envy...we're fueling the next burst bubble Pathetic.