This documentary follows Sandi Harding, the manager of the last open Blockbuster Video store in Bend, Oregon. The film looks at how the big Blockbuster chain grew, made big mistakes, and shut down almost everywhere. It also shows how this one small store keeps going while streaming takes over. The tone is warm, funny, and full of old video-store memories.
The story is about movie-rental nostalgia, community, and a real small-town store that refused to die. Viewers hear famous people talk about Friday-night trips to rent tapes and DVDs. The film explains how Blockbuster beat smaller stores, then failed after bad leadership and money problems. Sandi’s hard work and love of movies sit at the center. The main ideas are memory, physical media, and keeping a fun local hangout alive—not modern identity politics or activist messaging.
Community feedback
Was our 6% Woke rating accurate?
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for The Last Blockbuster.
Woke representation / casting
Sandi Harding is the real longtime store manager, not a diversity hire. Interview guests are mostly known comedians and actors tied to movie-store culture. A few non-white faces appear (for example Ron Funches), but race and gender are not sold as the point. Casting looks like real people and 90s/2000s entertainment contacts, not quota-style signaling.
0%
Woke political dialogue
Talk is about late fees, renting tapes, corporate deals, bad CEOs, Netflix, and keeping the Bend store open. There is no clear activist lecture on race, gender, sexuality, or modern identity politics. Business history talk stays at the level of company mistakes and streaming change.
0%
Identity-driven story themes
Core themes are nostalgia, community, physical movies, and one small store’s survival. Identity politics, queer storylines, race-first arcs, or girlboss messaging are not the plot engine. Sandi’s “Blockbuster Mom” role is about real work and local care, not an identity campaign.
5%
Western institutional / cultural critique
The film notes Blockbuster crushed many mom-and-pop stores, then fell after bad management and debt. Lloyd Kaufman and others jab at big corporate video culture. That is ordinary business and retail history, not modern activist framing about patriarchy, whiteness, colonial guilt, or anti-conservative culture war. Mild corporate-failure critique only.
10%
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. This is a real-world documentary about a store and a company, not an adaptation that rewrites fictional or historical figures for identity reasons.
0%
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
No meaningful anti-woke or right-leaning campaign treats this title as woke DEI propaganda. Public talk centers on nostalgia and irony. Pro-DEI notes that it is “too white” or lacks diversity do not count here.
0%
Creator track record context
Cached scores for Morden, Kamm, Gilbert, and Skousen are all 0/100. Their known work is indie docs, comedy, craft, and non-activist film work, matching this film’s nostalgia focus.
0%
Production
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