American Vandal is a Netflix original series that premiered in September 2017. Taking on the mockumentary style of show, A.V. sets the bar for upcoming fall shows. With past crime series like American Crime, Making a Murderer, and even How to Get Away With Murder, it’s no wonder that someone finally broke the ice about all the dramas being exactly the same.
When you combine the works of director/creator/writer Tony Yacenda (CollegeHumor Originals) and writer/creator Dan Perrault (Honest Trailers) you know you’re in for a good time. Then you mix in a YouTube star (Jimmy Tatro) and add a dash of some Disney darlings (Calum Worthy, G. Hannelius) and you’ve got multiple different audiences coming in.
American Vandal follows the story of Dylan Maxwell (Tatro) and his involvment in a crime committed at his high school. The student’s who run “Morning Show Nine” at the school decide to start a documentary proving Dylan’s innocence. The team goes through a list of suspects and each of their motives. Using Snapchat and secret phone recordings as tools, the teens dive deep into the mysterious prank. What was the crime you may ask?
The reason behind Peter Maldonado’s (Tyler Alvarez) documentary is to find out who drew 27 penises on 27 of the teachers cars. Sounds stupid enough, right? Right. BUT, the students take it so seriously that you’ll be wrapped up in the drama, the he-said-she-said and you’ll be judging each character as the show goes on. Who did it? Did Dylan do it? Did the creator of the doc do it? You’ll never know until you watch.
What did other people think?
Me, starting episode 1 of American Vandal: ha, look at all those dicks
Me, 6 episodes later: pic.twitter.com/pjvfOCsvqH— Danny (@G0d_Dan_it) September 18, 2017
So American Vandal is a story about dick drawings. Watched two episodes last night. Tell me why the acting and writing is seriously good???
— Lee’Angelo Ball (@DrewKzLee) September 18, 2017
I recommend everyone to watch American vandal on Netflix best documentary I’ve seen and it’s not even a serious one. #AmericanVandal
— Nathaniel (@Ieuannbailey) September 19, 2017
#AmericanVandal not only nails the true-crime doc style, but nails high school hierarchy, youth culture and the use of social media.
— Martin Holmes (@RedmondSurvivor) September 20, 2017
#AmericanVandal is, IMO, the best Netflix Original of any type.
Hilarious, amazingly real, weirdly thrilling and surprisingly poignant.
— Max Landis (@Uptomyknees) September 21, 2017
American Vandal is so brilliant I can’t handle it pic.twitter.com/RdT6QqGf0e
— Ash Crossan (@AshCrossan) September 24, 2017
Personally, I enjoyed this piece of work. It had some beautiful cinematography for being such a stupid show. I never watch comedies on cable or Netflix, because something about them seems too forced. But with AV, you know it’s a joke the whole time and it fascinated me, it got my attention. It wouldn’t surprise me if something like that happened nowadays, because we are all about our dramas.
The show was only 8 episodes ranging from 30-40 minutes each. It’s a quick binge and an interesting take on todays media.
Should there be a season 2: Yes. I really want to know what Mr. Kraz’s involvement was.
My rating: 7/10 phallic images
