The true crime documentary series, a trend that became
popular with Netflix’s phenomenon Making a Murderer and the Serial podcast,
has proliferated to the point that, like most trends, it was probably due to
have a little wind taken out of it.
Trailers for the Netflix series American Vandal have made the
series appear to be just that. From
frequent Funny or Die collaborators writer/creator Dan Perrault and director
Tony Yacenda, the serious-looking trailers present a mystery that appeals to
the 13-year-old in all of us: who spray-painted penises on 27 teachers’ cars at
Hanover High School? If you chuckled at
that question, that was probably the point.
But those who take a chance on American Vandal are in for one of
the year’s most pleasant and compelling surprises.
The series is presented as an eight-part documentary made by
Hanover High School student Peter Maldonado (Tyler Alvarez, Orange is the
New Black). The case appears to be
open-and-shut, with known prankster Dylan Maxwell (Jimmy Tatro, 22 Jump
Street) all but convicted of the immature but costly crime. But something doesn’t add up to Maldonado, so
he ventures on a quest for the truth about the crime, and justice for the
seemly wrongly accused Maxwell. The
first episode introduces our setting with just the right touch of goofy humor
that such a subject matter needs. But
the more the mystery unfolds, the less goofy the whole premise seems—and that’s
a really good thing.
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| Pink dicks?! I like it. I mean, I like them. I mean...um...nevermind. |
American Vandal, unlike most satires, doesn’t rely on
exaggerating the cliches of its source material for cheap laughs. In fact, it isn’t particularly “funny” at
all. American Vandal plays it
absolutely straight, and it works masterfully.
It is a gripping, intricate crime drama with all of the twists and turns
one would expect from the documentary series that inspired it. It is a short (eight half-hour episodes) but
effective crime procedural presented in a documentary style, which works far
better than playing it cheap laughs ever would have. The characters for the most part are
well-acted and fully formed; the viewer is never sure who they fully trust or
believe right through the very end—even the storytellers themselves.
This fearlessness is what makes American Vandal truly
great. Characters do drift in and out as
they often do in the real thing, but make an impact that keeps the viewer
guessing about what they just saw and crafting theories for what comes
next. Being fiction, it is a bit
constricted by being forced at times to stick to a narrative, which a times
makes you see a twist coming even if you don’t necessarily know what it may be
(and the case of American Vandal, the surprises are many.) The cast of mostly unknowns plays their roles
perfectly, fitting into their roles in the story without somehow ever becoming
cartoonish archetypes. For a series
built around a premise of “who drew the dicks?”, American Vandal manages
to take itself seriously and be all the better for it.
Things in American Vandal’s world are a bit messy at
times, but for a series that tries so hard to get the look and feel of
docu-series right it feels like it was done on purpose. American Vandal feels real, from its
editing to its performances to its intricately twisted plot. More painstaking tribute than goofy satire, American
Vandal makes all the right smart choices, leading to one of the most
compelling crime dramas(!) of the season.
Now on Netflix, American Vandal is an easy, quick and satisfying
binge watch recommended for fans of documentaries, crime procedurals, or just
great TV.
Score
-Mike Stec