Giuliani Time

Giuliani Time has an ax to grind and wields it with dull-edged force.

With the former mayor currently enjoying one of the rare second acts in American political life, Giuliani Time does a strong job of reminding us what the first one was like.

After 9-11, a sick, scandalized lame-duck mayor became a national hero for simply keeping his composure on TV. Keating's film is a comet out of the past, but it's focused, if only circumstantially, on the future.

It drags a bit and suffers from not enough Rudy.

In general, and in spite of its deft use of archival video clips and interviews, Giuliani Time offers a superficial reading of recent New York history, zeroing in on the headlines while often missing the context.

While Giuliani Time offers a wealth of important information that many might have long forgotten, its impact is diluted by its heavily biased nature and lack of balance.

The documentary Giuliani Time, which seeks to knock our former mayor off his pedestal, hits him with all the force of a wadded-up Kleenex. Those who hope Rudy Giuliani never returns to public life must be getting panicky.