- Network: Netflix
- Series Premiere Date: Feb 6, 2025
Critic Reviews
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That scolding streak is the biggest detractor from what is otherwise a highly watchable show, complete with great performances, convincing accents (seriously, Dever might be the first Hollywood starlet to pull off an Aussie twang), and a spot-on re-creation of the energy of the aughts, when our nascent understanding of the internet and social media allowed Gibson’s influence (and scams) to reach new heights. But the show ultimately fails to come across as smarter than your other true-crime slop.
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Juggling Instagram nonsense, devastating terminal illness and endless coffee enemas is a tricky tightrope-walk, but one that Apple Cider Vinegar manages to pull off – mostly thanks to a magnetic central performance from Kaitlyn Dever.
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All of it comes together mainly thanks to a terrific performance from Dever, Australian accent and all, whose take on Gibson is instantly familiar and unnerving.
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Feb 7, 2025“Apple Cider Vinegar” is an excellent platform for showcasing Devers’s talents and versatility. And it’s enjoyable enough in small bursts and character-driven scenes. But as a whole start-to-finish narrative, it lacks the necessary direction and energy to keep it truly captivating.
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Apple Cider Vinegar isn’t particularly incisive as a cautionary tale about spending too much time online or recklessly listening to what a “famous person” claims. But much like the escapist powers of a good doom-scroll, it can nevertheless be an addictive, if frustrating, watch.
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Even at its best, “Apple Cider Vinegar” strikes many of the same chords as other entries in the scammer canon. And often, the show falls short of its own peak thanks to an unfocused structure that diffuses much of its message.
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The based-on-a-true-story drama veers all over the place in time, tone and theme, serving up a little bit of everything but not enough of anything to fully sink our teeth into.
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Netflix’s latest scammer drama about an Australian woman who faked cancer enables and glamorizes its protagonist’s deceptions, telling its story from her perspective and sidelining other excellent, emotionally resonant POVs. Apple Cider Vinegar is self-aware of its own toxicity, but that doesn’t make the poison any less pernicious.
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Despite fine performances from Dever and other parts of the ensemble, Apple Cider Vinegar is too busy scrambling around the storytelling for no particular reason than just concentrating on telling the story in the best way possible.
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It’s possible to build a coherent whole from contradictory perspectives, especially through focusing on unifying themes, but Apple Cider Vinegar swerves between its narrative lanes haphazardly and unsubtly. .... There’s little here that justifies spending six long episodes with a pathological liar or convinces you that the show has anything new to say about social media.
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