Dirty John

A dazzling matchup of pulp and prestige. ... Britton is perfectly cast as Debra. ... As Meehan, the actor [Eric Bana] pivots from charming to chilling and back with astonishing ease. [16 Nov 2018, p.45]

Amanda Peet’s performance is more than enough to put Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story on a season pass. But Broderick’s story is an intriguing one, and it looks like it’ll be told in a way that will show that some of her simmering rage didn’t just come out of the blue.

Glossy and well-acted, its transfer from your daily commute’s most suspenseful listening stretch ever to serviceable wine-and-laundry-folding companion show feels, all in all, a smooth one.

Dirty John doesn't hold any creative surprises for those familiar with the case, and it doesn't break any conventions amply established by, say, Investigation Discovery or Oxygen. That doesn't make it worthless, mind you. It has all the makings of a frivolous, ephemeral good time, a spiky bauble made to stand out among television's soft December offerings.

Director Jeffrey Reiner gives this a ‘90s soap patina that works--to a point. The intelligence that Britton and Bana provide gets shoved aside in favor of scenes that look like they couldn’t possibly be true (but are). When “Dirty John” begins to unravel, we lose interest and feel as duped as Debra.

Some of the essential vitality and veracity of the material has been lost. In its place, I can't point to much insight or advantage added by the new medium.

There’s not a lot of nuance to be found here, with any trace of psychological depth replaced by cheesy love montages and paint-by-numbers confrontations. We’re given no sense of why Debra is making these terrible decisions... over and over and over again.

The Meredith Baxter version of this story is so much better. This USA version attempts to sympathize with a double murderer who tortured her own kids with her obsession. Amanda Peete does a good job but the writing is misleading and biased. First season was great. Second season - very weak. Does not present the truth. Was Betty treated unfairly? Yes. Does that justify double murder. NO. We learned almost nothing new. The marriage encounter was the only new piece of information. Disappointing. Does not even come close to the 1990’s Woman Scorned and Her Final Fury.