Powerful

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Documentaries are very smartly done these days. They know how to really come up with a flashy name, they add a few famous people in the credits (although they happen to be just the narrator), they create tension in their story telling it as if it was a movie, and the result is that you spend an hour and a half listening to things you have heard a thousand times, but they do it in a way to make it sound like it's the most ground-breaking documentary ever.In this documentary about drugs, pretty much all of the above is true. You don't really learn anything new but since the subject is interesting, and you're bored on a Sunday afternoon where your only option is to stay in because the weather is awful outside, then you watch it and try to convince yourself that you just watched a compulsory viewing documentary. But nothing could be further from the truth. Time for a hit! Sorry, a nap!

I heard about this film recently when the maker appeared on Real Time on HBO. He came across as a fun but proactive guy and it made me want to watch this film. The documentary is just as I imagined it would be based on who he was and in some ways this is a strength but in other ways it is a strength that isn't totally built on.The film takes a rather light hearted look at the drug game – showing each level like it was a stage in a video game and having people who have been there talk about just how easy it is to do and how the financial appeal is just so much more than the risk in some cases or how, in other cases, the option is just so much better than the total lack of other options. In doing this it builds the case for how stupid the war on drugs is, how devastating the mandatory minimum sentencing is and how pointless death and pain there is behind all of this. This is a case that is easily made and for the most part I can see how the film was approaching it because it is very easy to watch and very accessible regardless of your views. The light-hearted tone, the video-game motif, the very (very) fast pace, all of it is aimed at a younger audience and the film deserves credit for that because this is a film with a clear message that will not be switched off by the audience because it is preachy or dry.Problem is that for the most part it doesn't have this message, instead it has a lot of style. The use of celebrities and larger-than-life former criminals doesn't help because generally the tone is upbeat and while the message is reasonably clear, most of the contributors do their sections in a "yeah it was wrong but it was frigging awesome being wrong" style. Only at the very end of the film do we get a sense of the real damage from the contributors, the real loss and pain they all suffered but it is a sudden gear change for the film to get there and it does crunch. This isn't to say that it is a bad film, because it isn't, but the thing it does really well is directly connected to what it does less well. The accessibility of it and the way it will hit the target audience also lessens the factual message and the ability to get to the real heart of the problem and the people.It is worth a look because it is a valuable message in an accessible and fun form, but the use of clips of The Wire will only serve to remind that the same points have been made elsewhere in a much more impacting and strong fashion.

I had the pleasure of attending a screening for How to Make Money Selling Drugs and I have to start out by saying that it is a definite yes. This is not your typical documentary. This is a really captivating story that paints an overall picture by allowing the viewer inside of each step of the drug wars and drug dealing businesses both in our country and internationally. The viewer is brought into so many different people's lives and so many facets of the drug wars that you are left whole when the film ends. The film is funny in a genuine way, yet powerful at the same time. I will reiterate that it's something to put on your radar.

This documentary really blew me away. It was funny, entertaining and informative. The message totally hits home and the film does so in such an effective way.My favorite part of the film was definitely the way that the story was told. The ten steps were executed flawlessly with such incredible talent. To have such a great mix of celebrities with actual drug king pins really heightens the experience and made me feel like this topic touches such a wide breadth of people.I also kept thinking about the film long after I left the screening. To me, this is a real sign of a great film.