American Vandal

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.

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.

This series is exactly what it appears to be- a mockumentary of all the "True Crime" documentaries out there- while at the same time building its own story and characters that you grow to love and root for. There were moments when I forgot I was watching fiction and genuinely wanted to scream at idiotic authority figures and the overall injustice represented on screen. Those were only a few moments, though. For the most part I laughed at the exaggerated high school drama.

American Vandal was very well-written, well-acted, and well-constructed. It even begins to pick up a moral of its own, and you come away not only with an amazing new comedy, but with a deep truth about how preconceived notions and judgments of a person can have lasting impacts on a person's life, especially a young one.

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.

American Vandal Season 1 and 2 is some of the best writing, or some of the best content on Netflix period.

I was amazed how well the show handles these tonal shifts and takes such an unbelievably funny and out there concept and injects it this thrilling and truly engaging narrative. Besides the excellent writing, the show has characters that are memorable and feel human. Even though their dialogue is often a little over the top, they speak and act like real teenagers would. The slang is correct, the little nuances and dynamics are all spot on.

I truly believe American Vandal is along with Freaks and Geeks one of the best coming of age television shows that we have at the moment. I think its kind of genius what the director and creator Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault have pulled off here. Truly original and creative TV.