Finders Keepers

It's a richer portrait than we might expect in an abysmal era of reality TV.

It's a complex portrait of class conflict, sad family legacies, and the dangerous allure of the spotlight.

Filmmakers Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel, over the film's quick 84 minutes, find some humanity and pathos in the story, which eventually takes an unexpectedly heartwarming turn.

If you're in the mood for a tragicomic documentary, the startlingly original "Finders Keepers" fills the bill.

What starts out as a freak show ends up a poignant tale of tragedy, redemption, and the boon of taxidermy.

Finders Keepers sees the tragedy in Whisnant's egomania. As he agrees to a tacky reality show, we realize he's peddling something more valuable than a leg - he's selling his soul.

Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel's documentary, opening the lid on the lives of the two men at odds over this oddity, discovers a lump-in-the-throat poignancy as it re-appraises just how hard it can be to pick up the pieces of a life.

A film exploring the undoing of two men, the strange circumstances that see their lives interconnect, and the qualities we've come to value as a society.

The film is a hodge-podge of archive clips and interview material but it just about gels and a host of smaller scale family stories round it out nicely.

Finders Keepers is an entertaining documentary worth your time.

Finders Keepers has the sort of plot that no screenwriter in his or her right mind would ever dream up.

One of those loopy tales that can be squarely filed in the "stranger than fiction" category.