- Network: FX
- Series Premiere Date: Mar 10, 2023
Critic Reviews
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From end to end, Sin Eater is a fascinating look at a man who is really only the tip of the spear for a rotten system. Pellicano makes for a perfect documentary subject, both for what he did and what he reveals about an industry that is nowhere near as far from its scandalous heyday as we are led to believe.
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Sin Eater is a case study in how to build a better true crime doc. It’s exciting, and it’s disturbing. But it’s also thrillingly journalistic, and it doesn’t take the audience’s intelligence for granted.
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Smartly directed by John Pappas, Sin Eater: The Crimes of Anthony Pellicano is juiciest when presenting never-before-released clips of phone conversations between Pellicano (who recorded all his calls) and clients like Love, former CAA and Disney bigwig Michael Ovitz, and Rock, who discusses his dilemma regarding a woman he slept with (behind his wife’s back) and now claims was raped and is carrying his child.
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What you get are interviews with esteemed journalists such as Rachel Abrams and Liz Day of the Times, and Ned Zeman of Vanity Fair; a treasure trove of audio recordings from the FBI case file, and in the second episode, a sit-down interview with Pellicano himself, who is now 78 and out of prison, and remains imposing, crudely charming, blunt, self-deprecating and a little bit scary.
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Despite Sin Eater‘s noble intentions, however, the whole thing ends up feeling like slightly less than the sum of its parts. Its tendency to skip backwards and forwards in time, from one case to the next and back again, slows the momentum and blunts the impact of each individual tale.