'The Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson' Movie Review

Inspired by the infamous true crime, The Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson depicts the last several days in the life of Nicole Brown (Mena Suvari), ex-wife of O.J. Simpson (Gene Freeman). We get to see her interactions with friends Kris Jenner (Agnes Bruckner), Faye Resnick (Taryn Manning), and, of course, Ron Goldman (Drew Roy). Nicole also befriends a man named Glen (Nick Stahl), but he may not be exactly the man she thinks he is.

Because this is based on an actual event, and there are details about it that everyone knows, this review will contain minor “spoilers”, but I’ll hold off on revealing some of the circumstances surrounding the things we know for a fact to be true. Given that there are some unknowns in relation to the titular murder, the film has to make certain suppositions, but that is to be expected. Now, I have no problem with a movie graphically depicting true events, but it’s all about the context. A movie like Schindler’s List is telling the story of a real-life hero during one of the most heinous periods in the history of the world, and it wants the audience to understand what he went through. David Fincher’s Zodiac is a detective drama featuring fictional detectives attempting to solve one of the greatest mysteries known to American culture: the identity of the Zodiac Killer, a person whose true identity is still unknown to this very day. These films have a reverence to them, even though they show some pretty gruesome images based on actual historical violence. But The Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson is not one of those movies.

This movie is utterly horrendous. And there are a variety of reasons. First off, the acting is not particularly good. Even though there are some recognizable faces present, none of the performers (with the possible exception of Nick Stahl, who has a couple of decent moments) are really all that compelling. Mena Suvari was kind of given an impossible task, as her character is not only used almost exclusively as a gimmick, but she is written incredibly poorly (but I’ll get to that later). I was really surprised by how terrible Taryn Manning was, given that she is probably one of the “bigger stars” in the film. The actor who plays O.J. was abysmal. For one, he honestly doesn’t look anything like him. But even casting that aside, he was incredibly stiff and boring. Simpson was a notoriously charming and likable guy. That’s the reason why it was so shocking to the public when he was accused of murdering his spouse. Having him be played so lifelessly was one of the biggest missteps in the film.

I have seen and heard bad screenwriting; quite a lot of it. This is some bad writing. A large portion of the dialogue is just lazy, ham-handed foreshadowing. Brown mentions how she’s afraid that Simpson might kill her, and he would definitely get away with it. The screenplay is riddled with comments like that, to the point where it almost feels like a parody. Even when characters aren’t making silly predictions, it’s just generally bad dialogue. None of it feels real or natural, and it is wildly lacking in focus. It starts off like a bad “Sex & the City” ripoff, then it becomes an erotic thriller, then it’s suddenly a slasher movie? I don’t have a problem with a movie gradually shifting tone, but this just felt sloppy.

I have to talk about the ending, because the way they treat the real-life finale is unbelievably tasteless. First off, they do try to put a twist on it, but I won’t spoil it. I will, however, address the way it is staged. The film does show the murder take place. Brown’s throat is shown being slit in slow motion, and with plenty of blood. Again, I don’t think that it is always reprehensible to depict a true event, no matter how graphic it may be. But this movie isn’t interested in being a reverent, sobering tragedy. It’s a disgusting tabloid. Right after the murder is shown, the film cuts to the actual news footage of her bloody corpse being examined. I was honestly shocked and appalled. There was such a sick lack of respect for the victims. To make matters worse, they even play the infamous 911 call over the end credits. Absolutely vile.

The Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson is just an absolute atrocity. The writing is lazy and on-the-nose, the acting is stiff and awkward, and the way the film handles the true story by which it was inspired is bafflingly offensive.

SCORE: 0.5/5