Shonda Rhimes’ Inventing Anna was released in theaters yesterday. Despite the star-studded cast and fancy shots, it is not clear if Shonda succeeded in her attempt to invent Anna.
Or she probably did, and perfectly recreated a real-life Anna Delvey who is considered arrogant and somewhat unlikeable.
IMDB Storyline reads: In Inventing Anna, a journalist with a lot to prove investigates the case of Anna Delvey, the Instagram-legendary German heiress who stole the hearts of New York’s social scene and stole their money as well.
“But is Anna New York’s biggest con woman or is she simply the new portrait of the American dream? Anna and the reporter form a dark funny love-hate bond as Anna awaits trial and our reporter fights the clock to answer the biggest question in NYC: who is Anna Delvey?”
“The series is inspired by the New York Magazine article “How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People” by Jessica Pressler, who also serves as a producer.”
The miniseries opens with a caveat: “This whole story is completely true. Except for all the parts that are totally made up.” The caveat contains no falsehood, as the story is based on Jessica Pressler’s 2018 article, How Anna Delvey Tricked New York.
I have scoured the internet and curated reactions from critics and everyday folks who have seen the movie. Read below
Inventing Anna: The Nega- Reviews
Brian Lowry (CNN): “Inventing Anna transforms a juicy real-life drama about a con artist among the influencer crowd into a fairly inert limited series, in part by giving almost equal weight to the reporter who broke the story.”
“Strictly as a viewing proposition it doesn’t help that most of the episodes run more than an hour, which breeds a certain flabbiness in the storytelling. The same goes for a structure that shifts the focus to a different one of Anna’s marks in each chapter, jumping back and forth in time before reaching the trial and eventually deciding her fate.
“Those criticisms don’t completely undercut the meatiness of the story, and the schadenfreude of how all these privileged masters and mistresses of the universe were so easily deceived. But it does make “Inventing Anna,” finally, a bit of a slog — a series that seeks to be a little too inventive for its own good.”
Lorrain Ali (Los Angeles Times): “Delvey’s story is riveting. The series, sadly, is not. It’s five hours too long and far too formulaic to keep up with its brazen protagonist, played here by “Ozark’s” Julia Garner.”
“But for all its problems, it’s hard to stop watching “Inventing Anna” as it chronicles Delvey’s brilliant grift, from credit card scams to multimillion-dollar banking swindles, Paris Fashion Week to Rikers Island.”
ArcadeAssault FragRecord (Google Reviews): “[Inventing Ana] has a ‘B’ grade feel about it.”
“Anna Chlumsky is annoying and is either really good at portraying an annoying person or is an annoying person in reality, she lacks that ability to connect with the audience, her body, facial expressions, voice are stiff and she looks uncomfortable.”
“The way she treats her partner is disgraceful, it’s all about her, plus what drove me bananas was her awful accent, if that’s real she needs to see a speech pathologist, it really grates.”
“Some of the supporting cast are good but others give this show a local theatre group feels. The story is a good modern one, but its produced on the cheap using an odd cast, if it had a different lead actress it may have been a lot more enjoyable”
Neha Verma: “TBH I was really forward to watching it. I really wanted to understand how can someone con others in this era of the internet and technology (no judgment). But the series is a drag, boring, and missing its edge.”
“They have created a fictional journalist to show or rather create the story & it just lame. There are many stories told from a journalist’s perspective like the Spotlight but it’s kept crisp and neat to not dilute the focus of the main storyline.”
“I could only make it to episode 5 as it’s really frustrating to watch that journalist lady (character & actor both). I really like Julia Garner so giving 2 stars for her otherwise would have rated 1.”
Laurae Jimenez: “The show is honestly so boring, it’s sad because the actual story is really interesting.”
“They really try to push the idea that she’s just a quirky girl trying to achieve her dreams so whatever she did to try and achieve it is fine. Anna’s accent is distracting and the other characters’ stories were so unnecessary. Overall a really big letdown.”
Inventing Anna: Posi+ Reviews
Lucy Mangan (The Guardian): “[Inventing Anna is] a multilayered tale brilliantly told, at pace and with glee. It may have more heft than it initially appears, but it is played essentially as a modern soap opera – and God, is it fun.”
“This is a show for those mainly looking to marvel – at the effrontery, the style, the steel nerves of the twentysomething weaving webs from inside a house of cards built on thin ice.”
Allison Keene (Paste Magazine): “Inventing Anna is the perfect Shondaland series in that it is incredibly fun to watch… And by all accounts, Inventing Anna could be TV’s next big thing—although like Anna herself, perhaps not for all the reasons it wants to be.”
“Inventing Anna is undeniably engrossing. It’s a mystery where we watch Anna Chlumsky’s Vivian Kent (based on Pressler) unravel the story, first by sensing there is more to this story after Anna’s arrest, then convincing her editors to back her on it, and ultimately explaining to Anna herself that she is the one who can tell it the right way”
Hallie V: Incredible show as long as you know the accent is EXACTLY how Anna sounds in real life. It’s not bad acting on Julia Garner’s.
Turanic: “The story of Anna was an interesting one to follow from the first time it appeared on the media… If films like “Catch Me if you can” or “Talented Mr Ripley” taught us anything is that genius con men make damn entertaining stories…”
“In that case it’s a young con woman which tricked pretty many people into believing she is Elite and as you know Elites are allowed anything … Julia Garner makes a damn good performance sometimes reminding Hannibal Lecter with her manipulative mind games. Anyway, it was a matter of time before Netflix grabbed this story and here we are…”
Playadesigngroup: “Total mind-bending quality of writing/casting/acting…”
“This is the reason that Shonda Rhimes signed her giant deal with Netflix… that and the awards she’ll be hauling in for her writing and casting and production quality for INVENTING ANNA. The characters and their lines are so real and typical of many New Yorkers.”
Inventing Anna was released in theaters yesterday, the same day as Jennifer Lopez’s Marry Me
