Casting JonBenét

2017

1h 20m

Documentary

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List

82%

57 Reviews

Tomatometer

48%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

After two decades of media speculation and public fascination, filmmakers explore the macabre legacy of the world's most famous child-murder case.

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Critics Consensus

Casting JonBenét's unorthodox approach to its genre sets it apart in a crowded field, making for a uniquely thought-provoking true crime documentary hybrid.

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inta k

weirdest documentary ever.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/09/24

Full Review

jen d

If you are a True Crime consumer in general and want this film to stick to the genre - that is take a stab at solving the murder with paid experts offering the lurid detail in clinical tones - you will be gravely disappointed (as the audience reviews show) but if you are even vaguely interested in what makes humans tick, how crimes become distorted in the media and in our assessments - you will find this fascinating and even brilliant. It is even better on a second viewing. (If you want an in-depth, smart and factual overview of the case itself - watch Matt Orchard's documentary on Youtube).

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

05/14/23

Full Review

william k

Unusual documentary hybrid takes the occasion of a casting to shine indirect light on a high-profile unsolved true crime mystery; fascinating and unsettling at the same time it does presume that its audience already is informed about the actual case.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A down right bad "movie", that's another thing what do you even call this? Netflix tries to exist between the two worlds of documentary and movie/dramatization and it just doesn't work on any level. The actors give details on the events surrounding the Jon Benet case, but they do so in a way that is non chalant, even asking for direction on the details of the story from directors which somehow doesnt get edited out..for what reason? Such a strange...creation..? Not worth your time

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Truly terrible idea for a movie. Why should I care what random actors think about JonBenet? What they read in tabloids or heard on TV? Just poll people on the street. These actors do not have a greater insight into the case. The nonsensical premise isn't elevated by the execution. There's no plot or driving force. Skip this weird, poorly conceived film.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I have personally studied the case of Jonbenet Ramsey's murder. I can tell you with utmost certainty that it was her father who violated and murdered this poor child. And sadly her mother covered for it. The initial idea was clearly for publicity, that she covered for her husband, then it became embarrassment to be associated and married to such a sick sociopath. This does not portray the falsehood of the emotions, these wanna be actors really made this into a travesty with their doting, bragging, and shit acting. The mother knew what her husband did, and she took it to her grave, and the husband is still living freely. Think deeply about criminal profiling, their traits match a typical cover up story and guilty party confirmation. The son also knows what happened, but he is still too scared or just beyond messed up from the situation to come forward now. He's afraid he will be charged. The father was too deep into this not to be guilty, and the key factor is the false confession from the pedophile who tried to say he did it, but the timeline made it impossible. I do believe that he got the details of the attack from the father, but changed the information so it wouldn't lead them to assume that the father was the guilty one.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/05/23

Full Review

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Kitty Green

Director

Hannah Cagwin

Actor

Aeona Cruz

Actor

Kitty Green

Writer

Jennifer Dong

Executive Producer

Avy Eschenasy

Executive Producer

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Casting JonBenet: Movie Clip - Audition

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Casting JonBenet: Trailer 1

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J. R. Jones

Chicago Reader

The unsolved 1996 murder of six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey generated a tidal wave of tabloid garbage; this documentary by Kitty Green surfs atop it, exploiting the crime no less but giving it an art-film respectability.

Apr 13, 2020

Full Review

Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

The Blue Lenses

Green's film is difficult and challenging, but it is not lazy. And in a world where these kinds of stories so often are the source of hysterical sensationalism, a degree of thoughtfulness and introspection is long overdue.

Aug 25, 2018

Full Review

Tim Grierson

Paste Magazine

This movie is fascinated by our psychological need to judge other people's lives, but it's also deeply mournful, even respectful, of the very human reasons why we do so.

Oct 27, 2017

Full Review

Brett Michael Dykes

Uproxx

Over the course of the film, these thespians are forced to confront the reality of the Ramsey family's situation which in turn helps viewers to take a look under the surface of this tabloid trauma.

Dec 29, 2021

Full Review

Jason Adams

My New Plaid Pants

The truth comes about only in the remembering.

Jul 6, 2021

Full Review

Jim Rohner

Battleship Pretension

...what director Kitty Green has attempted to do with Casting JonBenet is explore the unsettling legacy that the case has left on local residents and speculate on why it was so captivating to us.

Apr 15, 2021

Full Review

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Synopsis

After two decades of media speculation and public fascination, filmmakers explore the macabre legacy of the world's most famous child-murder case.

Director: Kitty Green
Producer: Jennifer Dong, Avy Eschenasy, Figo Li
Screenwriter: Kitty Green
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 28, 2017
Runtime: 1h 20m

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