Balloon Boy: The Movie

By our guest blogger, Marie Biondolillo

Are you ready for "Balloon Boy: The Movie"? If not, get pumped, because filmmaker Steven C. Barber is threatening to make a muckraking documentary about the Heene family's high jinx.

The Heenes first rose to infamy last October, when EVERY MEDIA OUTLET IN THE WORLD reported on six-year-old Falcon Heene's supposedly disappearing into the stratosphere when trapped on a homemade helium balloon. Everybody freaked out (mostly about the wisdom of naming your child "Falcon"--after that you're pretty much asking for him to get into flight-related trouble), but it turned out to be a publicity stunt masterminded by Falcon's creepy dad, Richard Heene, in order to get the weird Heene family some sort of reality show.

Heene was sent off to jail after confessing, but his long-term pal Barber is somehow still convinced that the whole thing was some kind of wacky accident. Barber is planning on making a documentary about the incident, called "Balloon Boy: Guilty Until Proven Innocent," which will vindicate Richard Heene once and for all.

"Balloon Boy: Guilty Until Proven Innocent" is not a very smart title for this documentary, in part because Richard Heene was--how to put this delicately--proven guilty! This was due to his his own admission that he was guilty. I'm not sure how Richard Heene could get any more guilty, so Barber's attempt at proving him innocent is misconceived, to be generous. Also, somebody should probably let Barber know that Heene is actually currently serving prison time, so the whole "trial" period of his case is pretty much over. It's highly likely that the film won't even be completed until Heene is already out on parole, so the point of Barber's film is . . . well, I'm not sure what the point is, to be frank. Perhaps the Balloon Boy movie should be retitled "Balloon Boy: Look, I Really Like Richard Heene, Okay?" or "Balloon Boy: Totally Guilty, But I Didn't Have Any Other Ideas for a Documentary."

Stay tuned for Richard Heene's documentary on this riveting topic, entitled "Balloon Boy: At Least I Got to Go On Larry King."