A REFRESHING BREAK from a genre saturated with hysterical, preachy agitprop, Bag It is a genuinely interesting documentary about the large and small impacts of that simple grocery-store question, "Paper or plastic?" At the center of the film is loveable dork Jeb Berrier, an average, balding Coloradoan who starts to get a little paranoid about the health and environmental effects of plastic bags. When his wife gets pregnant, the stakes get higher and Berrier decides to try and live a life without plastic. The film stays personal and playful as Berrier and director Suzan Beraza investigate the history of plastic and the scary power of the plastics industry.

Bag It seeps into your consciousness—did you know that plastic bags are the number-one consumer item in the world? I didn't. At home, watching the DVD screener as it played cute animated science about how toxic phthalates ooze from plastic into humans, I put down my carrots (which were wrapped in plastic) and began to suspiciously eye all the plastic items in the room. As the debate about Oregon's own statewide bag ban heats up, this enjoyable, thought-provoking plastics primer is perfectly timed.