“No perverts!” —Donald Trump in 2013, reacting to Anthony Weiner running for mayor of New York in 2013.
Disgraced congressman turned New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner is on the phone in his campaign office, trying to spin the news of a second texting scandal that apparently had transpired AFTER he resigned from the House of Representative, had apologized publicly and stated it would never happen again.
Weiner’s wife Huma Abedin is in the room as well. Pacing back and forth, tapping her fingernails in rapid-fire fashion on a desk, shaking her head in disgust, rolling her eyes, staring stone-faced at her husband, who used the alias “Carlos Danger” in some of his exchanges.
It’s a fascinating and incredibly intimate moment — but should we even have such access? If you walked in on a couple in that situation, you’d turn around and walk out.
Filmmakers Josh Kriegman (who once worked for Weiner) and Elyse Steinberg had amazing, virtually unfettered access to Weiner, his wife and their campaign team for a documentary that begins with Weiner’s resignation in 2011 after the Twitterverse exploded with photos of him clad in underwear and less; stays with Weiner through his fiercely determined comeback effort to run for mayor — and, then almost unbelievably, continues after Weiner is implicated in a second sexting scandal, courtesy of one “Sydney Leathers.”
Why in the world would Weiner and his wife permit filming to continue even after Weiner admitted he was involved in sexting with at least a half-dozen women, and he had subjected the couple to public humiliation for a second time?
Narcissism? Ego? Stubbornness? Delusional denial?
“Weiner” doesn’t delve deep into the once-promising politician’s spectacular, two-pronged fall from grace. The filmmakers don’t examine his childhood, nor do they talk to sex addiction experts or stage sit-down interviews with any of the women Wiener sexted with, nor for that matter do they speak with his closest confidants. The cameras simply follow Weiner’s every move, which includes disastrous public appearances, embarrassing press conferences, and media interviews that don’t exactly go Weiner’s way.
“For me it just comes down to this,” says MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell in an interview shortly after the second scandal broke. “What is wrong with you?”
Weiner’s reply: “I don’t understand the question. You mean what is wrong with me that I care so much about the issues that I fight for every day, that I have in my entire career?”
O’Donnell: “No.”
Weiner: “You’re not being clear, Lawrence, so let’s work a little harder at that. … Dude, I don’t really need your psychiatric questions? Maybe I’ll come on this show and kick your ass every night, as I’m doing tonight!”
Crash. Burn.
The cameras are there when Weiner meets with his top staffers. As one of them talks about how wounded he is by Weiner’s betrayal, Weiner’s infant son screeches in the background, making it almost impossible for anyone to be heard. When Abedin tries to intervene on the staffer’s behalf and empathize with where he’s coming from, Weiner barks: “What are you, the referee?”
You can’t look away, but it’s almost painful to watch. You keep waiting for a scene where Abedin’s inner circle (which would include Hillary Clinton) stage an intervention and urge her to run for her life. (As a New York Post front-page headline puts it: “Senora Danger, What is Wrong With You?”)
Throughout the campaign, Weiner comes across as a superior jerk that thinks he’s smarter than the press, blames “technology” on his problems and is often curt and rude to his wife, who finally distances herself from the campaign.
“Honey, I’m gonna leave, and then you leave,” Weiner says before exiting the house. And then, his tone dripping with sarcasm, “Wait a while, or someone might think you’re married to me.”
Long after the polls say Weiner has no chance, as the candidate flails away and refuses to bow out, Abedin has finally had enough.
“I’m not in this [campaign] ad,” Abedin tells the filmmakers while eating a slice of pizza on the stoop of their home. “Do I look like I’m camera-ready?”
Well, yes. But finally, mercifully, good for her for not participating in the charade.
Four weeks before the mayoral election, Weiner has an unfavorable rating of 80 percent. EIGHTY percent. “Carlos Danger is trailing in the polls,” understates one TV anchor.
Cut to Weiner in a car with his campaign manager, doing a Rodney Dangerfield impersonation and cracking her up with corny and slightly racy jokes.
No respect, Mr. Weiner. No respect whatsoever.
“Weiner”
Three and a half stars
Sundance Selects presents a documentary directed by Elyse Steinberg and Josh Kriegman. Running time: 100 minutes. Rated R (for language and some sexual material). Opens Friday at the Music Box Theater and Landmark Renaissance Place in Highland Park.
