Casting JonBenet

It's kinda confusing. The whole story is all over the place and it does not give clear theories as to what Happend to Jonbennet.

This movie was not what I thought it would be. It innovates the genre of documentary. It is a fresh way to tell an old story. Be prepared to see something new.

I'm surprised by some of the reactions from other reviewers. I assume they think we should let this horrid crime drift into history. And because it involved a poor, innocent little child, I really do get their point. The girl is innocent even if we're not sure who else is. But should we just "let it go" and not push for an answer? Someday, perhaps new DNA testing will tell us WHO and then JB will get a bit of her well-deserved justice. If we forget, simply because it was tragic, then we allow the guilty to walk free.

I thought this might be interesting, a juxtaposition of a teleplay production about the Benet case combined with actual documentary information. Alas, the film contains literally zero facts, just auditioning semi-pro actors offering their personal thoughts about certain aspects of the case. These people aren't any different from your average Joe, offering up largely uninformed opinion on the few bits and pieces they recall from 25 years ago. There are a couple of moments of humor, but probably the most signal moment is the sex educator guy demonstrating his flogging equipment on camera, as if that had any bearing whatsoever on the Benet case. Yeah, it was kinda funny in an awkward way, but man, talk about desperation on the part of the film makers.

You can't properly call this film a documentary, it is just a series of talking heads and not very interesting or well-informed ones at that. I get the impression the actual Jon Benet production stalled out for some reason and the producers were left to salvage some kind of experimental pseudo-documentary in order to get a partial return for their investment. Unfortunately, it completely fails to inform or engage the viewer and honestly just comes across as a crass exploitation of the Jon Benet name in order to draw eyeballs. I fell for it, you shouldn't.

Out of the recent trend of documentaries of actual films that portray real stories, which are not as confusing as they sound (like "Katie Plays Christine"), "Casting JonBenet" is the best. I think I should say that before this movie I had never heard of the JonBenet murder and subsequent case; maybe I've been living under a rock or something. I say this due to the fact that it may have enhanced my experience with this film, and that people who are not entering it blindly might not enjoy it as much. After I watched the film I went online to judge the reactions of people, and far and away most general audience members seemed to dismiss this film as garbage. Many people stated that it added no new information to the case or that it was boring. To those people I would say that they missed the point, as pretentious as it sounds. This was a seemingly world famous case, what new information could they provide? What makes movies like "The Thin Blue Line" or "The Jinx" so good is that they actual had some real impact on the world by adding evidence not previously seen. Other movies/miniseries, like "The Imposter" or "Making a Murderer" show us cases that we otherwise never would have heard of. This movie has neither of those luxuries, so instead it does something different. It films the people in the community that Jonbenet Ramsey lived in and tasks them with playing the parts of members of the Ramsey family. All the while, the camera crew is filming these people and gleaning their insight into what they think about the murder. Their opinions range from insightful to off-the- wall batsh*t insane (think movies like "Room 237), and I enjoyed every second of it. Parts of this movie had me and my friends rolling on the floor with laughter due to just how peculiar and funny these characters playing characters really were. Other moments, like the ending montage I wont spoil, had me sitting in silence completely engrossed at what was on screen. Being able to have moments like that within the film make this movie truly special, as well as the first amazing film of the year. My only issue with it is that it lulls at some points towards the final 3rd, but even then it is still a very watchable film. Don't let negative reviews online discourage you from watching this movie. Watch it for yourself and make your own mind up

Fascinating performances by Colorado local actors. Who would have thought this state garnered so much talent. I was memorized by personal stories told by Hack Hyland, Suzanne Yazzi, Kit Thompson and Ronda Belser. This film is less to do with JonBenet and more to do with human emotions.