Pretty Good

Overrated

A Masterpiece!

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

This was the first Netflix original/Straight to Netflix movie that I had seen, so despite the mostly positive reviews, I was a little leery. However, as I said in my Title, it is an interesting angle on something most of us are very familiar with: JonBenet's tragic unsolved murder.I know many other critics have gone into deeper levels and deeper meanings, but honestly, I just thought on the surface that it was very interesting. Whenever you hear people talking about this case, it's usually those with a vested interest in a particular outcome, and they are attempting to spin it. Hearing from "typical" locals (well, at least the ones who were trying out to play John and Patsy Ramsey, and other people related to this case), and what they know and think about the case was interesting. Most were extremely passionate regarding their feelings about this case, and while maybe not 100% accurate, I'm sure they are an accurate reflection of what many people around Boulder, as well as around the world, think about this case, even if it's sometimes not the politically correct way to talk about it.I also am wondering what the original intention of this film was. Were they really going to make a movie about JonBenet, and then it evolved into this documentary? Or was it always the intention to make a film like this, and the so-called JonBenet film is merely a prop to get to what we see on the screen? At this point, I haven't seen anything written about this.Finally...I would take the majority of "1" ratings in this section with a grain of salt. Why? Whenever I see a string of dramatically low ratings for well-reviewed movies, or dramatically high ratings for average films (see the number of "10" ratings for the abysmal "Lambert and Stamp" documentary on The Who managers), I click on the profiles to see how many reviews they've done in addition to this one. At this point in time, there are seven ratings with a "1", and for five people, this is the only film they've ever reviewed. That leads me to believe that these five so-called reviewers are not at all objective, and have some unknown agenda they are trying to perpetuate. Perhaps they are friends of the Ramsey family? We'll never know. And if these same people choose to negatively rate my review on account of this, so be it.

I saw this production last night. Although being European, the case of Jonbenet has been in our media substantially as well, from the moment it happened until this day. This is not a documentary and I don't review it as such. I find the concept of "Casting Jonbenet" very innovating and intriguing. I had to forego on all of my prejudices about what to expect of a documentary and what to expect of a movie, because it is neither.In the beginning, I was surprised about the approach and I found the presentation of the different versions of Patsy confusing. Then, I got the point and when gradually the other characters and actors were introduced, I felt more comfortable with the concept and really got into it. If you fight this concept, you won't be able to appreciate this production, so in my opinion you should watch it with an open mind.It was very confronting when I started to realize that all of these actors had a story of their own. Sometimes they had a connection with the Ramsey's through friends or work, sometimes they had their own traumatic experience that synchronized them with the character they were supposed to play or the crime itself. Somehow, for me, these private testimonies brought the whole case alive and present again.You should get past the uncomfortable feeling some of the amateur actors give you, like the SM-fetishist, the Santa Clauses (what was that??), or the guy that played the creepy pedophile. Sometimes it was funny how these people went into method acting-modus, how serious they took the job. Although I must admit, with some of them I wasn't sure if they were really ordinary people or if they were acting to be an amateur actor...The last 5-10 minutes of this production is a perfect ending to it: a long slow-motion shot of all of the actors, in one big scene, with all of the possible scenario's of that fatal night, all in one.The last we get to see is a vision of the perfect little girl Jonbenet was, in the spotlight, all dressed up. I think that was an appropriate tribute to the poor girl who must have suffered a great deal during her short lifetime as well as in the final hours leading up to her death.

Someone actually thought it would be a good idea to not only audition really bad actors for the roles of prominent figures in this case, but also let these people weigh in on the case, based on their limited knowledge. Most of the documentary (I can't believe I just used that word for this junk)is of these terrible actor wannabes chewing the scenery in what they probably thought were great auditions. They all came off looking like fools. This is especially true of the Patsy Ramsey hopeful who went on and on about her wardrobe choice and the freak who used his time to show off his S&M fetish. So inappropriate but then again, there was nothing appropriate about this. I hope some day someone can actually do a good documentary about this poor little girl. She deserves to be remembered in a much better light than this film was willing to shine on her. Don't waste your time on this.

Fascinating performances by Colorado local actors. Who would have thought this state garnered so much talent. I was memorized by personal stories told by Hack Hyland, Suzanne Yazzi, Kit Thompson and Ronda Belser. This film is less to do with JonBenet and more to do with human emotions.