Binge-r #280: WeCrashed + The Responder
Space Invaders: Jared Leto (Adam) and Anne Hathaway (Rebekah) in WeCrashed
WECRASHED
Streaming Service: Apple TV+
Availability: All eight episodes now streaming
The bonfires of the vanities are burning brightly on streaming services right now. A generation of budding real-life American moguls, who sat at the intersection of Wall Street and Silicon Valley, are having their rise and fall charted via the prestige limited series. Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, who is currently awaiting sentencing, is the subject of Disney+’s The Dropout, while the forthcoming Super Pumped stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Uber’s unyielding principal Travis Kalanick. This unholy trinity is completed by WeCrashed, a relentless if limited invocation of Israeli entrepreneur Adam Neumann (Jared Leto), who with the unflagging support of his wife, Rebekah (Anne Hathaway), built the shared workspace company WeWork into a real estate giant before commercial realities intruded.
Created by Lee Eisenberg (The Office, Little America) and Drew Crevello, the show spans both the years 2007 to 2019 and the mood board of evangelical capitalism. “It’s not a company, it’s a movement,” says Adam of WeWork, and you can see how the company’s co-founder could turn the heads of business partners, young early adopters, and the seasoned bankers who poured capital into the firm. Belief is everything here, and what Adam momentarily lacks is more than made up for by Rebekah, whose self-doubt is assuaged by his success. Swaddled by their ever-expanding entitlement, the couple run ludicrously out of control. While there are illuminating details, particularly on Rebekah’s side (her cousin was Gwyneth Paltrow), Adam is more a force of nature, so convinced of his will to succeed but unconcerned by appearances that he becomes a spectacle.
These are exemplary roles for Leto and Hathaway. They are immersed in their character’s defining traits, whether it’s his persuasiveness or her cocoon of privilege. The difference lies in how the story uses them. In Leto’s case, Adam can become a blunt force, as his early flaws simply get magnified as the company grows and he loses touch with his co-founder, Miguel McKelvey (Kyle Marvin). But Hathaway’s Rebekah is a sly source of black humour and social critique, whether instructing a nanny on how a baby needs their tummy rubbed or indulging her talents; an early sequence where she performs in a Chekhov play is excruciatingly funny. WeCrashed is watchable, but leaning further into these styles would have helped. As it is, The Dropout remains the better dissection of billion-dollar blunders.
You’ll Always Walk Alone: Martin Freeman (Chris Carson) in The Responder
THE RESPONDER S1 (SBS on Demand, all six episodes now streaming): In this simmering, unnerving British drama, Martin Freeman plays a first responder who is the last to heal. Working a night shift in the grimmest corners of Liverpool, police officer Chris Carson endures abuse, assesses horrifying scenes, and witnesses the worst of human indifference. Carson has mostly given up on people, including himself, and the Sherlock star captures every flicker of fading humanity and bleak understanding that moves through his character. The Responder was written by a former police officer, Tony Schumacher, and there’s an unforgiving authenticity throughout. But at the same time, it’s not simply a matter of dwelling in the darkest of places, it also lets Carson reach out for something more, whether for better or even worse. The supporting cast includes Ian Hart as a drug dealer Carson has long been acquainted with, and it’s one of several entanglements that the story reveals throughout these five episodes. It’s uncompromising, enthralling viewing.
NEWLY ADDED MOVIES
New on Netflix: Rough Night (2017, 101 minutes) is a mishap-laden bachelorette comedy that works too hard to be genuinely funny – but Scarlett Johansson, Zoe Kravitz, and Kate McKinnon have some amusing moments; an agreeable family friendly time-travel adventure The Adam Project (2022, 106 minutes) lets Ryan Reynolds hang with his young self and take a second shot with his parents, played by Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Garner.
New on SBS on Demand: Some Best Picture winners from the Academy Awards pale with time, but Spotlight (2015, 124 minutes) is not one of them – Tom McCarthy’s investigatory drama about reporters from The Boston Globe unearthing widespread sexual abuse within the Catholic Church remains a compelling story of dedication and defiance, with a bracing ensemble cast that includes Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, and Stanley Tucci.
New on Stan: A neo-noir masterpiece about the crimes that define the powerful, Chinatown (1974, 131 minutes) matches Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway in an evocative mystery that unfolds in 1930s Los Angeles; Reese Witherspoon’s breakthrough role and one of the great political movies, Alexander Payne’s Election (1999, 103 minutes) is a terrific high school black comedy about ambition and flawed morality.
>> Missed the last BINGE-R? Click here to read about Binge’s freewheeling real life L.A. basketball drama Winning Time and Netflix’s Toni Collette thriller Pieces of Her.
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