Welcome to the Weekend Binge. Every Friday, we’ll suggest a binge-able title designed to keep you from getting too stir crazy. Check back throughout the weekend for even more gloriously queer entertainment.
The Operatic: American Crime Story-The Assassination of Gianni Versace
From the first frames of American Crime Story: Versace–the second series of true-crime drama produced by Ryan Murphy–we know it will end in tragedy. The story of the assassination of designer Gianni Versace continues to spark headlines more than 20 years after his murder at the hands of spree killer Andrew Cunanan. Yet, for the entire duration of the 10-episode season, we can’t look away.
We chalk that up to the writing, courtesy of the brilliant mind of Tom Rob Smith (London Spy), Smith approaches the story like an opera: though we know it will end in tragedy, he manages to build suspense by reliving the sordid events that culminated in murder. For Darren Criss’ Cunanan, that means becoming so obsessed with success and wealth, he never learned how to define either quality for himself. For Edgar Ramirez’s Versace, that involves dealing with sycophantic sister Donatella (Penelope Cruz) and assuring his longtime partner Antonio (Ricky Martin) that he doesn’t need other mean to be happy. Smith also indicts America’s attitude toward queer people at the time: heaping systemic shame on gay men, and barring same-sex couples from marrying. That Donatella Versace, a woman of dubious talent who always treated her brother with contempt, ended up with Gianni’s fortune while Antonio ended up with nothing is certainly a moral crime, if not a legal one.
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Criss plays Cunanan with a flighty narcissism and quiet self-loathing; it’s little wonder he took home an Emmy for his work. Working from Smith’s script, Criss creates a man we come to pity, but never one we come to love. The series also features excellent work by Ramirez, Martin and especially Judith Light. Light appears in only one episode as the wife of a closeted millionaire; the quiet dignity and heartache she imbues in her character devastates. Horrifying, infuriating and always captivating, The Assassination of Gianni Versace will haunt viewers with its real-life opera, as damn well it should
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Cam
It was definitely worth watching.
Jared MacBride
I enjoyed it. High production values, solid story telling, and, though this is an unpopular opinion, Criss is a very fine actor.
barryaksarben
It was a great show and altho it told the Versace story it also gave full coverage of the other men killed by Cunanan, Great acting by so much of the cast. Highly reccomend
mecmass
Darren Criss should have gotten top billing in this movie — not Ricky Martin or Penelope Cruz.
While all the acting was good, Darren was incredible as the disturbed, obsessed Andrew Cunanan. He certainly carried the show.
rand503
IT was so good I couldn’t finish it. Really. It was just too realistic, raw, and disturbing that I had to stop half way through.
CityguyUSA
It was a good show. I was hoping for more. They had done a couple of these extended shows around crime and I liked the ones I saw.
fredk
Darren criss was amazing in this series. totally fearless performance.
Bubbleandsqueal
Darren was too pretty to play AC. But then a better look-alike wouldn’t have been cast.
Ramirez was perfect casting.
winemaker
How many know that andrew cunanan once lived in San Francisco in the late 80’s before moving on to Los Angeles and eventually New York? For some reason this reminds me of the ‘doodler’ crime spree in the 70’s. The ‘doodler’ met gay men in bars, befriended his victims and eventually murdered them before sketching their portraits. As I understand the SFPD never caught the guy and thus the case is still considered open and wasn’t solved. If alive today the killer would be in his 70’s. One of his victims a German tourist survived just barely after being stabbed many times but was unable to give many details to the police.
bachy
I found this unwatchable. A scene in which Cunanan was murdering one of his victims was so unspeakably vile it made me ill.
ducdebrabant
Judith Light was indeed very good, but I was not struck only by her “dignity and heartache.” Light’s overbearing characterization made it very clear to me why her mild-mannered gay husband was so walled up in his closet, why their home was so sterile-looking, and why it contained a windowless basement chapel just for his use. The family adamantly denied that Lee Miglin was gay or bisexual, and stoutly maintained that he didn’t know Cunanan and was chosen at random. The show (and apparently the book it was based on) was having none of that. I sympathized with Marilyn Miglin’s grief, but I found her creepy hauteur repellent, and the show portrays her husband as a sweet and gentle man whose happiness was in large part thwarted by her need for fame, esteem, and to that end, control.