NUMBERS GAME Tired of fretting about your personal debt? Fret about the national one for a while.

Among the fun facts to be accrued from this mordant muckraker is that the customers most cherished by credit-card companies are those who have recently filed for bankruptcy, because they have a proven inclination to acquire debt but none of the protections that bankruptcy (virtually unobtainable a second time) would offer. If all goes well, the debt compounds beyond the borrower’s capacity to do more than meet the monthly minimum until the day he or she dies.

Borrowers with zero prospect of solvency provide the bulk of the profits in the lucrative field of consumer lending. Of course, the earlier the sucker becomes indentured, the better it is for business, which is why the lenders are so ardent in their courtship of college students.  

Director Scurlock says he set out to make a movie about consumer irresponsibility but changed his tack when he saw how calculated lenders were about luring customers in over their heads, how ruthless and manipulative debt collectors can be, and how solicitous the American government has been to the needs of predatory lending institutions.

While not the most tightly focused piece of reportage ever made, Maxed Out is solidly entertaining and packages a lot of useful information in a way that anybody old enough to apply for a credit card can understand. Parents of teenagers, take note. See “Credit risk,” page 90. (Opens Fri; Landmark’s Century Centre.)—Cliff Doerksen