Our Man in Tehran

The story can’t help but work — even when its directors are beating viewers over the head with the message.

There’s nothing like hearing a harrowing tale from the people who lived it.

This polished, comprehensive-feeling film makes clear how much of the work was done by our neighbors to the north.

Informative but tedious talking-head doc Our Man in Tehran is for anyone who watched Argo and then wished to hear a ditzy, history-obsessed uncle ramble about the real-life political stakes of the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis.

Never is there an Iranian perspective on the proceedings, giving the documentary the jingoistic bent its title implies.