Last year Netflix’s miniseries Adolescence took an unflinching look at the state of boys in the world today to riveting, chilling effect. This year, the streamer has teamed up with acclaimed documentarian Louis Theroux (When Louis Met…, My Scientology Movie, Louis and the Nazis) to examine some of the social media influencers who are most responsible for this shift in attitudes and the results are no less distressing.
Given his reputation for exposing often uncomfortable truths about his subjects, it’s surprising that he was able to gain access to the men featured here. Perhaps they adhere to the “any publicity is good publicity” maxim. Streamers Harrison Sullivan (aka “HSTikkyTokky” (yes, really) or just “HS” for short), Ed Matthews, Justin Waller, Myron Gaines, and Sneako (far and away the most famous of the bunch) all offer themselves up for interviews with Theroux and allow him to follow them around for a few days as they produce their often-controversial content. Whether the personas that this group broadcast as are genuine or put-ons is up for debate, but either way they all come across as wildly maladjusted, often with little or no prompting from our host. That anyone would find what they produce to be entertainment is disappointing if not entirely surprising, but the reveal that there are people who view them as role models is genuinely concerning.
These men espouse openly sexist, racist, homophobic, and antisemitic statements and seem to be proud to do so. They treat women as objects and claim to practice “one-sided monogamy”, in which only their wife or girlfriend is required to remain faithful. A few were somehow able to find partners apparently willing to put up with this treatment (though whose faces sometimes belie their satisfaction with the arrangement) and they have apparently taken this as proof that a life of domestic subservience to an “alpha” male is what all women really want. That they lack an understanding of proper survey methodologies will surprise no one.
There are moments when flashes of their underlying humanity come through, with Justin in particular sometimes seeming like there is a genuine person somewhere in there. But then it’s right back to weird stunts that include hitting on random women on the street, sloppy and sometimes violent attempts to catch alleged sexual predators, and flaunting ostentatious luxury goods as a way to market gambling and trading apps to their mostly teenaged audiences. Their values seem to be centered entirely around maximizing the amount of attention they receive with no concern for anyone or anything else and a complete lack of awareness around their own frequently hypocritical stances.
For his part Theroux is a fine guide through all of this. He asks good questions of his subjects but also knows when it’s best to just let them speak for themselves. There is a vein of wry British humor running throughout the film which keeps it from feeling overwhelmingly bleak, but it still won’t keep most viewers from coming away with a vague sense of hopeless disgust. Little time is given to the possible events that led to these men from becoming who they are and there is effectively no look into what it all means and the effects it is having on today’s young men and boys, but it’s plainly evident that it can’t be good. Perhaps a society gets the celebrities it deserves, but this eye-opening and disturbing documentary will make you wonder what we did to deserve this lot. ★★★★
rated TV-MA. contains strong language including sexual references and discrimination, thematic material, and mild violence.
★★★★★ = Excellent | ★★★★ = Very Good | ★★★ = Good | ★★ = Fair | ★ = Poor
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