Besides a great subtitle--"the world's first toxic comedy"--Dan Gold and Judith Helfand's documentary combines a family drama (persuading Helfand's parents not to use PVC or polyvinyl chloride siding on their home) with a scathing expose of an industry that has been incredibly successful in literally wrapping a toxic product around millions of people. Toting a sheet of blue vinyl siding from episode to episode, Helfand and Gold provide us with a deft touch of what a great documentary can do- -inform, entertain, and warn. Fans of Michael Moore's documentaries will find this film a welcome addition to the canon of documentaries by committed filmmakers who can tell an important story with verve and analytical skill.

This documentary is fairly well done. It tells an interesting story about a product many of us are relatively familiar with. The basic techniques were adequate and I had little qualms with the overall product.I guess if there was a problem with the movie was the overall message. Don't get me wrong, I can totally buy that there may be some harmful materials in vinyl, I am just not sure I found a reasonable solution within the film. It seems to me that sometimes addressing a problem is only a first step and this movie did little other than to wag its finger for 90 minutes.Finally, while I can understand that there may be some repercussions from vinyl use, I am not sure if I totally buy every lurid detail I was fed. Afterall, the movie started out with a woman looking for a problem... and found one

Here be spoilers to some degree. In an informative piece such as this movie I don't think it matters too much, but you've been warned.I know most of you out there don't have PVC on your big list of killers, and that's OK. It's a pretty obscure and boring subject. When I was flipping around and saw this title on HBO the first thing I thought was "ohh... blue vinyl" and thought I might see some skin. Instead, after a few seconds, I realized this was a documentary. Me, being the glutton for boring subject matter, decided to watch it.While it is a little one sided, it gives an overall impression of the positives of convenience and the negatives of PVC and gives both opposing arguments from the industry and activists- ranging from the "end user" (her parents) to the ultra-hippie to the corporate exec. While the narrator does give an impression of her own view, it isn't to the point that disallows the viewer to still disagree easily; and that's a nice thing to have.I loved the shots of people concerned with this issue going out and testing the air themselves, I liked how all involved were calm and overall respectful, and I most liked the opposition between the narrator and her parents. It really brings it down to home- the cost issues and unavailability of other materials was slightly anti-climatic, but gave a good feeling of what really goes on.Good documentary. 7/10- Maybe not ready for mainstream, but demonstrates excellent promise. A more famous "documentary" maker could learn a thing or two from this girl.

This is a perfect example of yellow journalism, sensationalizing a non- problem with their very biased,one sided, non-scientific approach to "disseminating information"The only other comment I would make is that the producers forgot to use the camera technique shooting up the face of the opposition to make them look more demonic.I'm glad others saw this tripe to be what it was.