Review of 'True Story'

As the year quickly draws to a close, I wanted to tell you that True Story, a seven-episode mini-series my wife and I finished watching last night on Netflix, has to be one of the best crime dramas of year. That's right. Clean out of the ballpark with a fast-moving story that manages to pull the rug out at the end of just about every episode.

[Spoilers ahead ...]

It starts when Kid, a stand-up comedian just become a big action-hero movie star, wakes up to find the woman he was with the night before dead in bed beside him. Great performance right there and throughout by Kevin Hart as Kid, and, while I'm at it, by Wesley Snipes as Carlton, Kid's brother, who wakes him up on that fateful morning. Snipes has always been one of my favorite actors, and he hasn't lost a thing.

Now, one thing Carlton and Kid really didn't do is carefully check to make sure the woman was dead, and that made me think that maybe she wasn't, and Kid was being set up for some kind of scam. And that's indeed what we discover at the end of this story. But I didn't mind being right about the plot, and the story of how True Story got from the beginning to the end was worth watching every minute.

One of the issues explored in depth is the nature of fandom, how it can be exploited by the star, what's really going on in the head and the heart of the fan. Gene, well-played by Theo Rossi, will go down as one of the most memorable fans in history, given the noble sacrifice he makes at the end.

The Philadelphia ambience was also good to see, and I thought True Story captured the Philadelphia convention scene -- which I know quite well as science fiction writer -- to a tee. The bad guys in the story -- Ari and his brothers --- were something we've seen before, but still packed at least a couple of surprises. Hats off to Eric Newman -- who also produced the superb Narcos series -- for a great job. I'd love to see a Season 2.