FX's new Ryan Murphy-produced mini-series "American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson" has garnered a lot of buzz, from its dubious inception (the guy who did "Glee" is doing the O.J. Simpson story? Best of luck ... ) to its both bizarre yet on-point casting. And now the reviews are coming out, and at first glance ... they're pretty good!
But I know what you're thinking, what question has been on your mind ever since you first heard about this show (which was possibly just a paragraph ago).
What does Kato Kaelin think?
Indeed, Milwaukee's own bizarre connection to the trial of the century took to the New York Daily News to semi-review the show (he admits he's only seen one episode of the 10-part mini-series so far) and, as the headline blares, to point out what it "got completely wrong."
And what did it get oh-so-completely wrong? Well, Kaelin notes, "the program shows the limo driver waiting on the curb to take O.J. to the airport, with the driver loading luggage. The car was actually in the driveway, and I was there talking to the driver." Shots fired, Ryan Murphy!
In case your immersion wasn't utterly blasted into the sun by that insider nugget, there's more. According to Kaelin, a scene in which O.J. chats with him (played by actor Billy Magnusson) while he enjoys a tasty burger is a work of fiction, because, in real life, he stopped eating red meat back in 1983. Another damning and insightful critique indeed!
And that's most certainly not all! Kaelin notes that in one scene, he's jogging on a beach with a friend only to be flogged by female fans and a disgruntled passerby. You guessed it: More Hollywood flim-flammery! Kaelin would never have run with a friend, as "it was my escape," he writes. What an embarrassing oversight! Ryan Murphy and FX might as well pack this thing up and bury it in shame.
Kaelin ends the piece on the note that, "The media didn't always get it right then – and I don't expect the 'mini-series of the century' to get it all right now," despite the fact that he spent the last several hundred words serving as its auditor, nit-picking insignificant details that say nothing about the show's quality or content. TV shows like this – and even documentaries, like the recent "Making a Murderer" – are not about the absolute truth, sent to deliver only the objective, "correct" details.
Film is inherently subjective, and its mission is to tell a good story, and the minute gripes that Kaelin nails the show for missing seem small and trivial to the bigger stories, ideas and issues at play. Maybe they're a sign of some greater neglect, but then discuss those bigger issues, not the fiddling placement of a car.
In his quest to show "ACS" wrong, Kaelin does get something right at the very end, when he solemnly notes, "The only winners when it comes to the O.J. story — are the TV networks." And it's true. It's easy to forget about the real people affected by these real-crime stories when they become the source of entertainment. Surely for people like Kaelin, it's hard to watch a grim chapter in his life rebroadcast back out to the world, remodeled and re-consumed by the masses yet again.
"I'll be watching."
Oh. OK then.
As much as it is a gigantic cliché to say that one has always had a passion for film, Matt Mueller has always had a passion for film. Whether it was bringing in the latest movie reviews for his first grade show-and-tell or writing film reviews for the St. Norbert College Times as a high school student, Matt is way too obsessed with movies for his own good.
When he's not writing about the latest blockbuster or talking much too glowingly about "Piranha 3D," Matt can probably be found watching literally any sport (minus cricket) or working at - get this - a local movie theater. Or watching a movie. Yeah, he's probably watching a movie.