The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst

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Season 1
  • Network: HBO
  • Series Premiere Date: Feb 8, 2015
Season #: 2, 1
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 21 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 21
  3. Negative: 0 out of 21
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Where To Watch

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Critic Reviews

  1. PopMatters
    Reviewed by: Chris Barsanti
    Feb 10, 2015
    60
    There are undeniably pulpy elements here, from the teasing out of material through multiple episodes to the melodramatic True Detective-esque credits sequence and crime reenactments. So far, it appears the film offers a spectrum of voices, some countering Durst’s.
  2. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: David Hinckley
    Feb 6, 2015
    60
    After a 40-minute trip through the strange life of Robert Durst, we have no idea whether he’s a killer or a survivor.
  3. Philadelphia Daily News
    Reviewed by: Ellen Gray
    Feb 6, 2015
    50
    [Robert Durst's] eagerness to be interviewed by filmmaker Andrew Jarecki ("Capturing the Friedmans") lends the six-part documentary premiering Sunday more creepiness than cachet.
  5. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: Matt Zoller Seitz
    Feb 6, 2015
    40
    You never get the sense that the filmmaker is pushing beyond prurient interest to uncover a deeper truth, much less discovering something within the subject that makes him seem theoretically redeemable, or at least recognizably human.

Awards & Rankings

56
#56 Best TV Season of 2015

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.2

Universal acclaim- based on 48 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 42 out of 48
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 48
  3. Negative: 3 out of 48
  1. Monkeywing
    Mar 1, 2015
    10
    I am absolutely addicted to this show. I have never seen anything like it. Having seen All Good Things years before I was curious how thisI am absolutely addicted to this show. I have never seen anything like it. Having seen All Good Things years before I was curious how this could possibly be a series. Once I saw the first episode I was even more curious, since it seemed they told us the whole story in the first episode. Every episode takes us further and further down a rabbit hole. This is a wild ride and I can't wait to watch the next episode.

    My biggest frustration with this show is that no one I know is watching it. I am begging everyone to watch it, but either they don't have HBO or "don't like true crime." Watch this show! It is fantastic!    … Full Review »
  2. OpinionatedGuy
    Apr 21, 2015
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. I never really paid attention about this documentary series until a day before its finale aired when the subject of this docu-series Robert Durst was arrested on first degree murder charges. As more people talked about Robert Durst and the docu-series, I decided to check it out with little knowledge or little interest about Robert Durst. I predicted it's just about an old white dude who got out of an open and shut case because he is rich. That is a bad oversimplification about the documentary series because while it is essentially correct, there is more to the story and it's not only one open and shut case but three open and shut cases! That explains why it needed six episodes to tell the story about the life and deaths of Robert Durst.

    What I loved about The Jinx is that it uses the information the filmmakers have about Robert Durst to tell a very serialized, compelling story. I do agree that it manipulated its viewers with the way it narrated the facts but that's the simplest yet clever way to tell the viewers and it doesn't change much about the truth about Durst and his involvement in three murder cases.

    The Jinx has the best cinematography I have seen in a documentary. It actually enhances the viewing experience for me. I also liked how the re-enactment scenes is naturally cooperated to the docu-series.

    My only problem I had with this docu-series is the crucial evidence they had on Robert Durst that was featured in the end of the docu-series in which in an audio file reveals that Robert Durst confessed that he "killed them all" in a bathroom by himself with a microphone that he forgot to give it to the filmmakers after his second interview. The docu-series was recorded on 2013 and the filmmakers had this evidence for a long time and it took them long to give the evidence to the police. I can't really believe the filmmakers' claim that they just only found it during post-production. It just seems a bit of a dick move made by them just to give more hype and suspense for the docu-series. At least Robert Durst is in big trouble now and the whole world knows it. Better late than never I guess.

    Despite that problem and its manipulative use of its narrative, The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst is an excellent docu-series that tells the story about the life and deaths of Robert Durst in a serialized, compelling way.    … Full Review »
  3. geewah
    Feb 2, 2021
    10
    Compelling, chilling, weird.
    This is one of the more bizarre murder mystery doco's you will see, and it will have you hooked.
    The best    Compelling, chilling, weird.
    This is one of the more bizarre murder mystery doco's you will see, and it will have you hooked.
    The best docu-series of 2015.    … Full Review »
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