Critical Condition: American Vandal

American Vandal | Netflix, from Friday

➢ “American Vandal, Netflix’s send-up of true-crime series like The Jinx and Making a Murderer, isn’t for everyone. There’s maybe one too many d–k jokes, more glamour shots of toilets than anyone would probably care to see, and an overwhelming amount of shaky-cam footage. But as an examination of today’s teen culture, it’s surprisingly perceptive.” — Entertainment Weekly.

➢ “Few shows I’ve seen catch high school society, with its self-contained seriousness, as well as American Vandal does, as well as the mix of innocence and experience, confusion and certitude that mark that age. It’s as engrossing as the series it set out to satirise and moving in ways you would not expect.” — Los Angeles Times.

➢ “Possible critical praise aside, it’s safe to say that the biggest star and selling point for American Vandal, other than for big fans of Red Band Society co-star Griffin Gluck or YouTube and 22 Jump Street veteran Jimmy Tatro is … Alliteration. Unless you’re significantly more mature than I, ‘Who drew the dicks?’ is an irresistibly catchy tag line and American Vandal dares you not to giggle just a little with each repetition of that phrase and the more sophisticated — it has alliteration and assonance — ‘did the dicks.'” — The Hollywood Reporter.

➢ “It’s a funny idea, and when it clicks, in the early episodes, Vandal is pretty amusing. It’s not an idea that stretches effectively over eight episodes, though, even at a half-hour each. There are other things going on — including a critique of the motives and methods of the documentarians, in this case a couple of student film geeks — but they’re not all that interesting.” — New York Times.

➢ “One of the first (and best) jokes in American Vandal is a name on a screen: In the opening credits of the series’ show-within-a-show, one of the listed executive producers is ‘Mr. Baxter.’ As a true crime docuseries satire, made through the eyes of a high school student, tiny comic touches like that are merely part of the comprehensive commitment to the bit that makes this series nearly too good to be true.” — IndieWire.