Review: 'The Pez Outlaw' documentary goes down sugary-sweet

Sidetilt Films, 2022.

I'm not typically a fan of documentaries that include actors dramatizing the events of the film, but in the joyous "The PEZ Outlaw," the approach works just right.

Grade: B

"The Pez Outlaw" tells the story of Steve Glew, a Michigan (yay!) factory worker who became rich by importing thousands of Pez candy dispensers, illegally. In the process, he also became a thing of legend, an iconic figure in the underground world of Pez collecting (yes, there is such a world in existence).

Steve just looks like a guy who deserves his own documentary. His snow-white beard (colored to be brown when he shows up in the flashback sequences) and 
his bucket hat make him a unique character to look at, but it's what's going on inside his brain that really makes him appealing.

Like many good success stories, he wouldn't have been able to quit his factory job at all had it not been for his loving, supportive wife. Glew would travel, first with his son and then later alone, to Pez factories overseas, where he would score thousands of rare Pez dispensers right off the assembly line...returning to the states to sell them off for massive profits. He did this for years until it caught the attention of then Pez USA President, Scott McWhinnie (referred to as "The Pez-ident"), who vowed to bring him down.

"The Pez Outlaw" plays like a true-life David & Goliath fable, including interviews with a smattering of quirky individuals who both confirm and deny portions of Glew's recollections. The film is fun, sweet and yet offers little to chew on - much like Pez - but it almost doesn't matter if it happened exactly the way Glew remembers it anyways. Any way you look at it, it's a definite treat.

Grade: B
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Genre: Documentary.
Run Time: 1 hour 25 minutes.
Not Rated.

Directed by Amy Bandlien Storkel & Bryan Storkel.

"The PEZ Outlaw" is available on Friday, October 21st, 2022 on various streaming platforms and On-Demand.