Standard Of Review: 'American Vandal' Is The True-Crime Sendup You Need To Be Watching

The show is both hilarious and poignant.

Netflix’s new show American Vandal is one of the most difficult shows in recent memory to recommend to friends. American Vandal is a sendup of true-crime entertainment, a mockumentary examining who painted twenty-seven phalluses on faculty cars at a high school in Oceanside, California. Due to the juvenile premise, it is seemingly impossible to sell the show to friends without sounding completely ridiculous. In reality, though, American Vandal is both hilarious and poignant.

After this act of vandalism, senior Dylan Maxwell, a bad student who is perpetually in trouble with his teachers, is accused of the crime by an eyewitness. Given Dylan’s history, the school board has no trouble believing that Dylan is the culprit and expels him after an examination by the school’s attorney. But fellow student Peter Maldonado believes that the school may have rushed too quickly to conclusions. With the help of his friend Sam Ecklund, Peter directs a documentary that attempts to determine whether or not Dylan is guilty and what other suspects the school may have missed.

American Vandal is undoubtedly taking aim at true-crime series and podcasts like Serial, The Jinx, and Making a Murderer (all of which I have written about in this column). Like Serial and Making a Murderer, Peter believes that at the very least, Dylan did not receive the due process he deserved. Peter’s narration definitely mimics the speech patterns of Sarah Koenig from Serial, such as teasing a piece of evidence and saying “this will become important later.” Similar to Serial, Peter finds out a piece of important – and potentially exonerating – information within the first episode. The documentary within American Vandal becomes a viral hit, leading Peter to have to respond to fan theories (just like on Serial). The show’s opening credits are similar to the opening credits on The Jinx and Making a Murderer (which in retrospect are themselves very similar to each other). And like these popular true-crime shows, Peter’s objectivity is itself in question, as he bonds with with Dylan. Peter clearly hopes that Dylan is innocent.

Despite the similarities with the aforementioned true-crime shows, make no mistake – American Vandal is a comedy. There are a lot of penis jokes, and I am not even sure how many jokes are appropriate for publication. The key piece of evidence Peter discovers in the first episode pertains to the method by which the perpetrator specifically drew one part of the penises. Each episode title is a double entendre, both describing the episode and pertaining to penises or sex. The characters also must break a record for the amount of times they say the word “dick” with absolute sincerity.

Despite its sophomoric subject matter, American Vandal contains a surprising amount of pathos. While Peter’s intentions in making his documentary – to expose the truth – are noble, they have real-world impact. A teacher gets in trouble for saying off-color things about his students on-camera. Peter airs his classmates’ dirty laundry without regard to the students’ feelings. For example, Peter attempts to discredit the school’s star witness by calling his credibility into question because he purportedly lied about hooking up with one of the school’s most popular females. In another instance, Peter and Sam fight after Peter suggests that if Sam is the perpetrator (even though Peter does not actually believe Sam is guilty), Sam’s motive would be his unrequited crush on his best friend Gabi Granger. Without spoiling anything, American Vandal’s last few episodes are particularly moving, as the documentary affects its participants in surprising ways.

While there are not many lawyers in American Vandal, there are a few notable scenes involving attorneys. In one amusing instance early on in American Vandal, Dylan’s family calls Dylan’s cousin for legal advice. The cousin attempts to answer his relatives’ questions about criminal law despite protesting that he mainly deals with contract actions. As a civil litigator, I am frequently asked by friends or family about myriad areas of the law in which I do not practice, so I appreciate Dylan’s cousin’s annoyance. Later in the series, there is another very humorous scene involving Peter giving a key piece of evidence to Dylan’s actual criminal attorney (which I will not spoil). Furthermore, the documentary within American Vandal examines how the burden of proof to expel Dylan is much lower than “beyond a reasonable doubt,” and how the deck is stacked against Dylan as he was examined by the school’s attorney without an attorney of his own.

Netflix has so many shows these days that every once in awhile one of its shows is either a critical or commercial hit despite premiering with little fanfare. Last year, Stranger Things came out of nowhere and became one of the most talked-about shows of the year. While I doubt American Vandal will become a hit even close to the Stranger Things level, American Vandal is definitely a must-watch.

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Harry Graff is a litigation associate at a firm, but he spends days wishing that he was writing about film, television, literature, and pop culture instead of writing briefs. If there is a law-related movie, television show, book, or any other form of media that you would like Harry Graff to discuss, he can be reached at harrygraff19@gmail.com. Be sure to follow Harry Graff on Twitter at @harrygraff19.

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