Inventing Anna

Inventing Anna is the perfect Shondaland series in that it is incredibly fun to watch but filled with issues. The first is star Julia Garner’s divisive accent. ... If you can get past that, though, Inventing Anna is undeniably engrossing.

Even with an occasionally clunky script, Inventing Anna is ridiculously watchable, aided in part by another scene-stealing performance from Julia Garner and a top-notch ensemble.

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. Those who are looking for an in-depth, analytical take on the Delvey phenomenon, her pathology or motivations – which the handful of previous documentaries about her have lacked – will have to wait a little longer. ... Julia Garner is mesmerising as Anna.

The results are occasionally messy and often unwieldy — most of its nine episodes clock in at over an hour each — but they’re also savvy, sly and compulsively watchable.

Any time Garner’s Anna is off screen, the series loses a bit of steam. I suppose it’s inevitable that a story about a phony heiress feels a little hollow… but it’s a fun ride while it lasts.

The modesty of its thematic and narrative ambitions keep Inventing Anna from being a great show. It could have been truly great if it had decided to really be about something, but instead it's content to just be fun. It knows what it is and succeeds at what it sets out to do.

An entertaining if overlong look into the mind of a chic, haughty sociopath. The accent is unsettling, and mysterious, and fascinating, just like the woman employing it. I’m not sure the show — which is fictionalized — quite gets at what led Anna to commit her crimes, psychologically or otherwise.

The series isn’t perfect, but at its best, “Inventing Anna” tells a story that, especially when staying close to real episodes involving Anna and those around her, is entertainingly, jaw-droppingly outrageous.

Typical Netflix series bloat disappointments aside, “Inventing Anna” is a pretty engrossing ride largely due to Chlumsky’s relatability and Garner’s bonkers accent.

Rhimes brings in familiar faces from other Shondaland shows, travels to exotic places, has Anna strut about in all manner of glitzy outfits — Anna loves to shop — and generally offers up solid modern TV entertainment. But a tighter, more succinct work would have lived up to Garner’s performance.

Like too many streaming series, it trades in efficiency and force for length and reduced churn. Still, there’s a lot to chew on, including a handful of delicacies yet to be so earnestly unearthed in all those other stories of the rich and famous.

Despite its more evocative performances, Inventing Anna demands patience that doesn’t pay off, squandering its promising potential along the way.

“Inventing Anna” isn’t a tough watch. The actors do a lot to compensate for what’s missing. But it’s overly devoted to the Vivian part of the story. If anything, I found myself wishing Alexis Floyd’s Neff could somehow spin off her own series, right in the middle of this one.