American Vandal

I watched the whole season this afternoon and I texted everyone I know telling them to watch it because i am so impressed. I love the originality, and the quirkiness. the acting and the characters are great, there are enough jokes to keep you smiling but without taking away too much of Dylan's sad story.

I found the shift in tone very unique and quite enjoyable. it made me realize how emotionally invested i was in the characters. It started off with this funny, goofy crime, and with a funny, goofy alleged criminal, making you think this is going to be the biggest satire of all crime docs, but eventually, it takes you on a roller coaster of feelings, ultimately bringing you to the harsh reality of our criminal justice system, and with society in general, really.

*i would like to say that i never write reviews because i realize I'm terrible at it, but i liked this show so much that i had to put in my 2 cents*

An uncommonly well written and clever high school comedy that is, most importantly, consistently hilarious. Strangely enough, the seriously silly mystery is actually compelling and you will want to see how it turns out. The majority of the humour might just be too stupid for some, but there's more than enough laugh out loud moments to keep you interested. The characters are likable and performed well by young, mostly unknown actors. Even the opening to the show is funny, a true detective making a murderer style that just feels inspired. A show that's made for binge watching.

The subject matter may be silly, but its wrapped in a well constructed documentary that holds your interest. The suspense and drama is alluring. If the trailer appeals to you, then it only gets better upon watching. The genre is "teen show/documentary", as described by Netflix, and it delivers to that demographic pretty well. I'm not into teen shows, but I can appreciate how it emulates popular crime docs of recent years. It not only recalls the crime, but takes you on a journey of investigation. A mastery of the genre.

This show is ridiculous in the best way. I was cracking up and hooked on finding out the mystery in each season. I'm so sad it was cancelled, I was looking forward to more seasons.

This was a real breath of fresh air.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not very familiar with the "True Crime" shows that American Vandal is presenting itself as a parody of, but that didn't take away from the enjoyment of it at all. The show takes a satirical low-stakes premise and manages to make it genuinely suspenseful and funny, as well as very poignant towards the end of the season. The show blends this style with elements of found footage films, finding the best aspects of both and managing to never get stale.

For a show with a mostly junior cast that essentially lives and dies by the believability of its performances, American Vandal's actors were all surprisingly capable and felt like real people. Jimmy Tatro was great; if you've followed his YouTube channels, you won't see much you haven't already seen him do, but he's very talented and he was definitely perfect for the role. The other leads were great as well, and I can't think of too many weak links in even the supporting cast. It's rare to see TV shows paint an accurate picture of modern high school kids across different stereotypes (and make any attempt to deconstruct those stereotypes), but this felt about as close as I've seen one get.

Plus, the writing is engaging and keeps you guessing throughout, such that you won't be certain where the plot is going until the very end. Certain details will appear in the first few episodes that don't get elaborated upon until several episodes later, and it makes the show very rewarding upon re-watches for viewers paying attention. For a show that would have done just fine as a fun romp satirizing the true crime genre, American Vandal actually goes the extra mile to make itself more enjoyable.

If you were even moderately interested based on the trailer, absolutely give American Vandal a binge. Would love to see what this team can come up with next.