Trainwreck: Balloon Boy

Questions spring out of the narrative about child manipulation and the ethics of media frenzies, fringe thematics that might take deeper root in a documentary series that’s more concerned with journalistic integrity than Trainwreck’s pursuit of amusement. But Balloon Boy, in making us wonder if the entire Heene family colluded on this stunt and stuck to it for 15 years despite the fact that Occam’s Razor tells us they’re most likely cuckoo fakers, has all the moral ambiguity a quest-for-a-likely-unattainable-truth doc needs.

“Balloon Boy” leaves us with more questions than credible answers, which can’t have been Pachter’s goal all along. She doesn’t quite make the maybe-not-a-hoax sale, despite her best efforts.