American Vandal Season 1 Review

American Vandal is a very unique sort of series providing a true crime satire in the form of a documentary. It's very serious and that works for what's supposed to be a mostly comedic effort. The story follows a group of high school kids searching for the truth on what really happened during a special event. This more or less comes down to finding out if the Vandal, the drawer of dicks really did commit the crime. The crime scene in question is the school parking lot with almost thirty cars getting damaged by having dicks drawn on them. It certainly sounds odd, but it works ever so well as everyone is incredibly serious about what's going and it feels strangely like a real occurrence.

The way it's shot is also very interesting as it's all very much a documentary style and the narrative is conveyed very well in this format. I also loved how each episode would focus on a sort of idea or theory as they moved forward to figuring out the full events that took place that day. The interest one has in the series also grows with each episode as it presents a sort of tease or break in the case and that really captured my attention to watch more.

Like I was saying, the whole setup of how everything was broken down and the arrival of new theories felt real. It also came across as perfectly modern with the high school focus and viral factor coming through as accurate. Being somewhat younger in general this show gets it all right while still being entertaining. It's got a nice mix of dramatic elements, very funny comedy and a plot keeps you focused on what's going on.

Each break in the case brought excitement towards what's really just a silly thing and that was well presented. I was even more impressed by how impartial things were in the series which helped add a sense of objective realism to it all. It certainly got what makes these sort of shows something people like watching while making great strides to mock it. The acting was also really well done from the lead crew and it all came together for a satisfying conclusion.

The Conclusion

American Vandal is an easy watch with moments of comedy that hit and dramatic portions that make you feel like you're part of the action. It was all well shot with each scene looking really solid and documentary like with even the shaky type scenes feeling natural.

You got this sort of sense of feeling how serious things were as the crew had to get creative with how they would go about shooting. This all makes American Vandal come across as a real possible event and not something made up. That works well in supporting the effort to mock this hilarious, yet for some reason realistic concept around someone drawing dicks on cars to vandalize them.

American Vandal Review at Home with Streamed Viewing
Screening was Provided by Netflix

Rating Overall: 8.0