A Brilliant Conflict

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

This show is nothing short of a masterpiece. It starts as a hilarious High School/True Crime satire and later transforms into a deep meditation on American pop culture. It alludes to Reality TV, Social Media, Mainstream media, Documentary Filmmaking, Teenage woes, Celebrity status, Authoritarianism, Justice System and how the tag of High School Stereotypes remains attached and continues to define someone's life.

Season One"American Vandal" is a spoof of the long form Netflix documentaries such as "Making A Murderer" that focuses on a high school incident where a penis is drawn on each member of the faculties car. Dylan, trouble maker and notorious penis graffiti artist is quickly identified as the perpetrator and is expelled. Two members of the AV club decide to properly investigate his guilt and their documentary becomes a school hit, putting them at odds with the teachers and some pupils, who don't like what the film discovers. The trouble with "American Vandal" is as it's a spoof, you would anticipate it being funny, when really it isn't. There are some minor laughs to be had in the first episode as the magnitude of the dick drawings comes to light, but once that is done, none of the characters (even king idiot Dylan) are drawn broadly enough to generate many laughs. That is not to say that the show isn't compelling. The formula that the show apes is so compelling I was drawn in to watch them all to find out what the truth about the situation was. The performances from the cast are good, earnest and realistic and the plot is actually quite clever, it's just a shame that better comedy writers weren't involved.

the story is nice. but it is slow. the producers clearly needed to fill up the space negotiated with netflix. and the story simply can't stretch that much. by the second half of the third episode i was asking myself why couldn't that fill up just one episode instead of two and a half, even three. it is the first netflix production that i badly needed the film to go at a higher speed. i had the same feeling with deidra and xxx rob a train, but that was easily solved by often jumping forward. with American vandal the points are hidden in this slow going mass and jumping would just lose some of them. there is a vague understanding of the issue of privacy in the last episode, but that is it.Contact me with Questions, Comments or Suggestions ryitfork @ bitmail.ch

If you enjoy dumb humor and have seen your fair share of mystery shows, this is a show for you. The cover and part of the trailer leads viewers to believe that this is an actual crime investigation, but it is so much better than that. The satire that pokes fun at mystery shows and follows closely in their portrayal of crimes is actually well thought out. Each episode leaves you with a true sense of "what next?". Although the series was hilarious and thought out, the ending wasn't as conclusive as it could have been. It left viewers with a sense of wonder and not sure closure. Other than that it was down right hilarious!