Casting JonBenet (2017)

It's a bunch of aspiring actors with recollections of JonBenet's murder. The facts, though there, are difficult to decipher, especially to someone who isn't well versed on the facts of the case. I was hoping to learn about the case and what happened, guess I'll have to go elsewhere.

This is not a documentary about the JonBenét Ramsey case. This is a film about the community surrounding (and yet still on the outside of) the JonBenét Ramsey case. It's about opinion and speculation and participation, and about how personal experience shapes opinion and vice versa. Ultimately I thought it was an interesting character study/art experiment. If you go into it thinking you'll get some juicy new updates on a tired murder mystery however, you're going to be disappointed. Keep an open mind.

This was the first Netflix original/Straight to Netflix movie that I had seen, so despite the mostly positive reviews, I was a little leery. However, as I said in my Title, it is an interesting angle on something most of us are very familiar with: JonBenet's tragic unsolved murder.I know many other critics have gone into deeper levels and deeper meanings, but honestly, I just thought on the surface that it was very interesting. Whenever you hear people talking about this case, it's usually those with a vested interest in a particular outcome, and they are attempting to spin it. Hearing from "typical" locals (well, at least the ones who were trying out to play John and Patsy Ramsey, and other people related to this case), and what they know and think about the case was interesting. Most were extremely passionate regarding their feelings about this case, and while maybe not 100% accurate, I'm sure they are an accurate reflection of what many people around Boulder, as well as around the world, think about this case, even if it's sometimes not the politically correct way to talk about it.I also am wondering what the original intention of this film was. Were they really going to make a movie about JonBenet, and then it evolved into this documentary? Or was it always the intention to make a film like this, and the so-called JonBenet film is merely a prop to get to what we see on the screen? At this point, I haven't seen anything written about this.Finally...I would take the majority of "1" ratings in this section with a grain of salt. Why? Whenever I see a string of dramatically low ratings for well-reviewed movies, or dramatically high ratings for average films (see the number of "10" ratings for the abysmal "Lambert and Stamp" documentary on The Who managers), I click on the profiles to see how many reviews they've done in addition to this one. At this point in time, there are seven ratings with a "1", and for five people, this is the only film they've ever reviewed. That leads me to believe that these five so-called reviewers are not at all objective, and have some unknown agenda they are trying to perpetuate. Perhaps they are friends of the Ramsey family? We'll never know. And if these same people choose to negatively rate my review on account of this, so be it.

Someone actually thought it would be a good idea to not only audition really bad actors for the roles of prominent figures in this case, but also let these people weigh in on the case, based on their limited knowledge. Most of the documentary (I can't believe I just used that word for this junk)is of these terrible actor wannabes chewing the scenery in what they probably thought were great auditions. They all came off looking like fools. This is especially true of the Patsy Ramsey hopeful who went on and on about her wardrobe choice and the freak who used his time to show off his S&M fetish. So inappropriate but then again, there was nothing appropriate about this. I hope some day someone can actually do a good documentary about this poor little girl. She deserves to be remembered in a much better light than this film was willing to shine on her. Don't waste your time on this.