Who says documentaries have to be boring? As the top docs of 2006 can attest, they can entertain, inform, as well as polarize public opinion on subjects as varied as a Catholic Church cover-up ; crossword puzzles and the people who love them; global warming and the former Vice President who fears it; a comedian putting on a concert; and a trio of country-singing gals in the middle of a political brou-ha-ha.

Clergy abuse is a sensitive issue, and with Deliver Us From Evil, director Amy Berg shed light not only on one of the Catholic church's most notorious but also the ensuing systemic cover-up employed by the Church itself. Called both "devastating" (by Charlotte Weekly's Sean O'Connell) and "superb" (by the New York Post's Lou Lumenick), this documentary is excruciatingly powerful; as the Toronto Star's Peter Howell notes, "It plays like a Catholic Watergate, going right to the top with hard evidence that stuns, dismays and sickens."

Documentaries are often guided by politics, but this year one was guided by a politician -- former VP Al Gore. In the PowerPoint-enhanced An Inconvenient Truth, Gore gave audiences a chilling lesson in the dangers of greenhouse gases and global warming, making believers (and environmentalists) out of many: "The truths in this challenging film aren't just inconvenient; they're darkly fascinating, mighty scary, and, it seems to me, undeniable," writes The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle's Jack Garner.

Even the Dixie Chicks got into the action this year with Shut Up & Sing. After a highly publicized, and highly politicized, comment opposing President George W. Bush, the country-singing trio found themselves in a lot of hot water; this documentary followed the hubbub with a blend of politics, music, and backstage interviews. As Sean Means of the Salt Lake Tribune says, "If you weren't a Dixie Chicks fan before, watching the documentary Shut Up & Sing will likely turn you into one."

Another combination of music and film this year was the Michel Gondry-directed Dave Chappelle's Block Party, a thoroughly engaging doc that followed comic Chappelle as he hosted an all-star hip-hop concert in the middle of Brooklyn. With performances by such musical heavyweights as Mos Def, Erykah Badu, and The Roots, and plenty of off-the-cuff improv by Chappelle himself, Block Party is what the Boston Globe's Wesley Morris calls "a jubilant, civic-minded lollapalooza."

As interesting as those are, there is one doc that got better reviews than any of them. 2006's winner of the Golden Tomato for best-reviewed documentary is ... Wordplay.

Even if you don't know who Will Shortz is, chances are you know his work if you've ever attempted one of the crossword puzzles in the New York Times. He's the one who edits the brainteasers for the Gray Lady. The one with a degree in "enigmatology." It says a lot about a movie that it manages to make this tranquil pastime entertaining, thanks in a large part to its engaging subjects. Variety's Justin Chang calls Wordplay "buoyant and exhilaratingly brainy;" ComingSoon.net's Edward Douglas says it "makes crossword puzzles seem a hell of a lot cooler and hipper than they've ever been." With an adjusted score of 82.50 and a Tomatometer of 95 percent, Wordplay is the best-reviewed documentary of 2006.