Sean O
I love the blend of acting and real interviews that made this film so compelling. I have watched movies that are solely re-enactments of events and documentaries that are solely interviews and description, but neither by itself can fully portray the gravity of what has happened. It made it entertaining, but also informing. It's not the best film of this style that I've seen, (shout out to "Pepsi, where's my jet?") but it's definitely up there. Would recommend.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
12/09/22
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Audience Member
It helped me get my point of not going to college to my parents easier, that is why I like it more. Very informative, but I don't like when they recreate stories AND have a documentary!
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/15/23
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Audience Member
As a newcomer to the world of documentaries I believe Operation Varsity Blues was pretty gripping. There wasn't much of any shock factors, however the film portrays the situation in great (but not excessive) detail enough to make it a watchable experience. I must say that 'reenactment scenes' sound generally cringe but due to these being almost a 'word to word' reenactments, they truly were not that bad. The thing that struck out to me the most must be the story of Standford's sailing teacher. Honestly, it is hard not to feel bad for him. I wish him well. He seems like a good person.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/22/23
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Audience Member
Operation Varsity Blues The College Admissions Scandal - 7/10. Chris Smith, who directed the great Fyre documentary, returns with the docu/reenactment film about the college admissions scandal. Diving into the history of the man who created the whole process of making rich and entitled kids get into the best colleges, the documentary reenacts these incidents and shows the convos that lead to the events to happen. Smith interviews individuals directly and indirectly involved with the case, and the documentary shows how the admission process is flawed and filled with loopholes. Whats sad about the documentary is that there is a sense of dread and sadness attached to it. Though it exposes the loopholes, it also shows the pain and effects it has on young people that haven't been accepted. The discrepancy between the wealthy and the rest is brilliantly shown through the doc, and Smith does a good job of using vlog footage to capture how much an admission means to young people. As a documentary it feels like it could have been a little more engaging. Otherwise, its a good documentary that will make you think about how unfair advantages are for the privileged.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/16/23
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Audience Member
Eh... Pretty boring to me. The production quality was decent, but it actually made me care even less.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
02/17/23
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Audience Member
The side door comes at a price. Meet Rick Singer (Matthew Modine). He's uniquely positioned to assist families in getting their children into prestigious colleges if they can make a sizable donation to his company. The catch? He's built an empire upon fraud. Now, I can't say that I have a background in this scandal. It's not surprising in the slightest that this happened; I just missed the majority of the story. I only peripherally heard about Lori Loughlin because she was the most famous person involved, but even then, I was not overly familiar with her as an actress, so I didn't investigate further into the crime. The bumpers that Netflix auto-played looked intriguing, and the only kicker I needed to hear was that this is from Chris Smith, the same documentarian that made one of my favorite pieces, Fyre. I can't say that Operation Varsity Blues is the better-made film, but the subject matter is just as fascinating. Now I think it would be a fair assessment to say that Operation Varsity Blues gets by on the strength of the material. It is an engrossing case with lots of juicy details to pull from, and while this primarily consists of reenactments, all of the dialogue is pulled from the actual tapped phone calls. I think that this functions as a double-edged sword. While the authenticity is there, the performances tend to ring a bit hollow. There are several parts in this where the acting comes off as wooden and stilted, and it feels like the direction was to stay word perfect to the script instead of giving actors free rein to add personal touches. Also, because these are recorded phone calls, it makes it so you're just watching people pace around on the phone, which is never overly engaging. Where this documentary succeeds is by pointing out the flaws in the system. These are privileged people who are stacking the deck further in their favor, so you never really feel sympathy for them, but the real villain is the system itself. Higher education has been an exceedingly lucrative business, so much so that it isn't all that surprising that you have people going through these drastic measures to get an edge. Since there is so much money to be made, it makes it just about impossible to change the machine, so what can you do? I feel somewhere between lukewarm to positive about this. I wouldn't mind watching more of Chris Smith's documentaries, but as a reviewer, I have to say that this doesn't have that same pop that Fyre had. It makes you want to do more research on the subject matter, so it does its job in that regard. Honestly, I think I would rather see a two-hour dramatization instead of this documentary. I can see it succeeding more.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/26/23
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