Good documentary could have benefited from more interviews and and poetry readings, which are out there. "The Dharma Bums" barely gets mentioned. Still, an informative look at a groundbreaking figure and literary giant.

The King of the Beats gets a rather standard documentary treatment, complete with badly done reenactments, but it is hard to screw up such a strong subject. Filmed in the early 1980's, all the Beat writers and various hangers-on are trotted out to tell the story of the author of "On the Road," a no...