Weiner

He was a political firebrand and up-and-coming MVP in the Democratic Party—until underwear selfies and provocative texts to women not his wife turned Congressman Anthony Weiner from a serious contender to a late-night talk show punch line. Fast-forward two years, and the now ex-US representative from New York’s 9th District is planning a run for mayor. His former chief of staff-turned-documentarian Josh Kriegman tags along with a camera to capture the campaign, as Weiner begins to win back the public’s trust and surge in the polls. Then along come revelations of further sexting incidents, and what started as a chronicle of an unlikely comeback becomes a portrait of a political car wreck in progress. Kriegman and co-director Elyse Steinberg (The Trial of Saddam Hussein) drop the viewer right into the eye of the storm as aides scramble to control the spin of this media-fueled scandal and an increasingly combative Weiner keeps hitting the self-destruct button. The longer one watches the candidate grimace through jokes about his online persona “Carlos Danger” while his resolute spouse—Clinton power-player Huma Abedin—goes into Good Wife mode, the more Weiner serves as a reminder that, in the age of 24-hour news cycles, there really are no second acts in American life. —David Fear