Hot Coffee (2011)

88% of users liked it
(418 ratings)

Seinfeld mocked it. Letterman ranked it in his top ten list. And more than fifteen years later, its infamy continues. Everyone knows the McDonald's coffee case. It has been routinely cited as an example of how citizens have taken advantage of America's legal system, but is that a fair rendition of… More Seinfeld mocked it. Letterman ranked it in his top ten list. And more than fifteen years later, its infamy continues. Everyone knows the McDonald's coffee case. It has been routinely cited as an example of how citizens have taken advantage of America's legal system, but is that a fair rendition of the facts? Hot Coffee reveals what really happened to Stella Liebeck, the Albuquerque woman who spilled coffee on herself and sued McDonald's, while exploring how and why the case garnered so much media attention, who funded the effort and to what end. After seeing this film, you will decide who really profited from spilling hot coffee. -- (C) Official Site

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 28 min.
Directed By: Susan Saladoff
Genres: Documentary, Special Interest

In Theaters: Jun 24, 2011 Limited
On DVD: Nov 1, 2011
Studio: HBO Docs

Critic Reviews

Sarah Boslaugh, Playback:stl
Everyone knows about the woman who spilled coffee on herself and won a $3 million judgment against McDonalds, but it turns out that most of what everyone knows about this case is wrong.
Rachel Gordon, Filmcritic.com
provides a journey through a legal system that is incrementally being subsumed by corporate interests on a daily basis.

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Featured Audience Ratings

Everett J

We've all heard about the case of a woman suing McDonald's for millions of dollars because she spilled coffee on herself. How much do you really know about it? Well apparently I didn't know much about it, and how severely burned the woman was(it shows pictures). This… More
We've all heard about the case of a woman suing McDonald's for millions of dollars because she spilled coffee on herself. How much do you really know about it? Well apparently I didn't know much about it, and how severely burned the woman was(it shows pictures). This is a documentary that uses that case, along with 3 other cases, to shine a light on tort reform and the judicial system here in America. It's VERY eye opening. I learned quite a bit, and honestly it's a little scary to see how things really work. Like a woman who was raped while working for Halliburton, can't take them to court because of mandatory arbitration. There is a really sad case about a family who had twins, and a doctor messed up a diagnosis causing one of the twins to be brain damaged. Seeing what this family goes through and their struggles with the judicial system of Nebraska is almost unbelievable. The movie obviously has a political agenda, but one that I think more people should open their eyes to. Everyone should check this out sometime.
Alec B

Its the type of documentary that should be shown in classrooms just so younger generations can have, at the very least, a basic understanding of how our legal system works and how easily it can be manipulated (or at least how easily the public can be manipulated to believe just about… More
Its the type of documentary that should be shown in classrooms just so younger generations can have, at the very least, a basic understanding of how our legal system works and how easily it can be manipulated (or at least how easily the public can be manipulated to believe just about anything).