Insert Coin (2020)

Insert Coin is the kind of documentary that reminds you great pop culture doesn’t come from boardrooms—it comes from scrappy rooms full of oddballs chasing a wild idea until it works. With a warm, intimate tone and a deep well of arcade-era nostalgia, it drops you into the Chicago factory-floor energy where Midway helped redefine what video games could look and feel like, especially through the live-action swagger that powered Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam. It’s heartening and genuinely enlightening to watch the creative process unfold—how characters, signature moves, and that infamous edge were shaped by equal parts ingenuity, rivalry, and play. If you didn’t grow up feeding quarters into cabinets, some of the fan-service details may land softer, but for anyone curious about how iconic games get made, it’s a joyful ride.

Insert Coin is clearly trying to be a warm, affectionate oral history of Midway’s scrappy team and the lightning-in-a-bottle era that gave us Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam. The problem is it plays things very safe: the storytelling is mostly talking heads and timeline recaps, with a presentation that can feel flat and oddly low-energy for such a loud, chaotic subject. If you’re hoping for real conflict, sharper investigative angles, or genuinely new revelations beyond the greatest-hits anecdotes, you may find it tame and a bit of a slog. Still, if you simply want a straightforward nostalgia tour and enjoy hearing creators reminisce without much drama, it does deliver that comfort-food vibe.