Neil: 2020- hell of a year, and not in the good way. For most of the world it’s meant racking up your screen time and sulking over your Snapchat memories. But in the middle of it all, one company’s having a great time in the cash department: Netflix Incorporated. Time is money, and since you’re spending most of yours in front of some show or flick that wound up on your home page, guess who’s making bank over it? They’re giving us a bang for our buck, though, and throwing content at us almost like they knew this virus was coming before it came. Sure, there’s your fair share of hot garbage, but there are more than a few gems in the mix. Now new release is more gem-y than Tiger King, a docu-series that covers the life of everyone’s new favourite wack job Joe Exotic.
The premise is this: Exotic owned the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, where he housed 176 tigers and other animals that definitely weren’t from Oklahoma. Joe is best described as a gun-toting, foul-mouthed, gay modern cowboy who’s whatever the opposite of camera shy is. As much as he seems insane and definitely backward on a few things, he makes for good TV. Tiger King puts together footage from the crew’s time with the man himself at his zoo, as well as interviews with a cast of people involved in the story, some with various limbs missing- a cruel punchline to the joke “What do you get when you mix almost 200 apex predators and people who don’t know what the hell they’re doing?”
Essentially, Joe Exotic likes what he’s got going on down in Wynnewood, much to the frustration of animal rights activist, the infamous Carole Baskin (who he’s not the biggest fan of either.) No spoilers, but everything that stems from that is best summed up in the show’s tagline, “Murder Mayhem and Madness.” The show itself is gripping. You watch in disbelief, you laugh when you probably shouldn’t and you grow to hate Ms. Baskin who Joe prefers to call by another word starting with B. The show slows down at points, like all things do I guess, but there’s always new plot points that never feel dragged out or forced- it’s a raw, candid plot with a pace that’s very watchable and more importantly binge-able. What it lacks in range (you feel pretty much the same the whole time- pissed off at Carole or Joe or somebody because everyone seems to be the bad guy) it makes up for in a bad-ass plot that’s well put together. Don’t listen to the reviews that say it’s cheap or shallow- it lives up to the hype. Not necessarily the most insightful thing on Netflix, nor does it feel like anything considered “great film,” but in a time when you check your phone to remember what day it is, it’s good company.
Overall, an 8.5/10.
Photo: Netflix
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