Netflix, I love you. Sometimes. But especially last night. I don't often fall in love with a show from the get-go, but it's happened twice recently: Big Mouth and American Vandal. I binge-watched those vulgar babies to the end in a matter of hours, and I didn't regret a minute.
Yesterday was a mental health/cleaning the apartment day, and I eventually sat down to find something to cheer me up. I'd noticed American Vandal before, but something about it turned me off, i.e. I didn't bother to look into it at all, I simply thought it was going to be an ultra serious documentary about vandals. Look, Making a Murderer and Serial both sucked me in, but I don't think I can get too emotionally invested in vandals, okay? However, I finally decided to actually read the synopsis, and I have to admit, "satirical documentary" drew me in. Mama loves a good satire, but they're so rarely good.
American Vandal, you had me from the word "dick". Apparently spray-painting twenty-seven cars with bright red dicks is a winning plot, and I'll be damned, but it made me giggle every time they panned back to it. Speaking of, in case you're like me and had no idea what this is about: Someone vandalizes twenty seven cars in the faculty parking lot of a high school, and the finger is quickly pointed at Dylan Maxwell, a wayward (but overall harmless) student who really loves drawing dicks. But not everyone is convinced, namely fellow students Peter and Sam, who decide to investigate the matter and make a documentary at the same time.
So why would anyone be invested in this? Because poor, stupid Dylan Maxwell is going to be charged as an adult for a crime that cost up to $100K in damages; his college prospects, assuming he had any, are ruined, and he'll be treated as a criminal for the rest of his life. Basically, he's fucked, and no one expected anything more of him.
Honestly, for a mockumentrary, this was far more compelling than I ever anticipated. As I was laughing my ass off, I was also genuinely interested in Dylan's fate and whether or not he was guilty. It's hilarious on top of everything else. Granted, if you don't lean towards a dirty sense of humor, you might not like this. If you don't appreciate stupid humor, you'll hate this. While I have both a disgusting sense of humor at times, and I like a good dose of stupidity, I'm also a snob. It has to be executed just so, and dammit, American Vandal hit all those notes.
My boyfriend's brother didn't like this, and didn't watch more than an episode and a half with me, if even that. Overall I think most people will enjoy this, though. Seriously, dicks. All the dicks. Who drew the dicks?
My grade: A
Comments
Post a Comment