What Happened, Brittany Murphy?: Season 1

METASCORE

Generally unfavorable reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 4 Ratings

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5.8

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5.8	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 4 Ratings

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What Happened, Brittany Murphy?

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Season Details & Credits

HBO Max | Season Premiere Date: October 14, 2021

Summary: The two-part documentary directed by Cynthia Hill examines Brittany Murphy's career, her marriage to Simon Monjack and her death at 32-years-old under mysterious circumstances.

Genre(s): Movie/Mini-Series, Documentary

Season 1 Episodes

tbd
S1:E2. Part 2
Air Date: October 14, 2021
tbd
S1:E1. Part 1
Air Date: October 14, 2021

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

Ilana Kaplan

Oct 14, 2021

Murphy’s story, as told by the docuseries, still deeply resonates and entrances as we learn there are secrets about Monjack and her relationship that may still not have been discovered. Read full review

Richard Roeper

Oct 13, 2021

Skilled documentarian Cynthia Hill weaves together a story featuring home-movie footage of a young and bubbly and adorable Brittany; clips from Murphy’s movies; the occasional re-enactment; news footage, and interviews with reporters who covered Murphy’s death, the retired Assistant Chief Coroner who handled Murphy’s case, friends and colleagues such as Heckerling and actress Kathy Najimy, and the mother and brother of Murphy’s late husband, Simon Monjack. Read full review

Tara Bennett

Oct 14, 2021

As another story of predatory men who exploit the vulnerable, Hill and her producers do a very good job of relaying the nuance and context of Murphy’s whole life, laying the groundwork for how someone like Monjack could slip in and do their worst. But where the doc fails on an exceptional level is succumbing to the temptation of including the tasteless freak show elements that existed in fringes of her life, and have continued after her passing. Read full review

Judy Berman

Oct 13, 2021

As is, What’s Happening, Brittany Murphy? feels like an episode of Inside Edition smoothed out to become a prestige mini-binge. The line between vindicating an unfairly maligned person and continuing to posthumously exploit her has rarely been so thin. Read full review

Ashley Fetters Maloy

Oct 14, 2021

The heavy-handed hints about murder and poisoning lead nowhere; Monjack, the film seems to conclude, simply helped create the conditions that allowed Murphy to get so sick she really did die of pneumonia. Read full review

The Daily Beast Cheyenne Roundtree

Oct 14, 2021

Murphy was exploited by the person she trusted the most: her husband. And the documentary is often guilty of exploitation as well. Read full review

Daniel D'Addario

Oct 13, 2021

“What Happened” settles for the bleakest and dullest of Hollywood cliché, ending in a place that degrades Murphy’s memory while pretending to honor it. ... Director Cynthia Hill has nowhere near the control of tone or the insight about her subject to make it feel like anything other than, well, gawking at an autopsy. Read full review

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User Reviews

Braw

Oct 18, 2021

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Well, not a lot of new information is provided. It does give the scope of Brittney career. It shows the trials and tribulations Brittney went through in her short life and really works to "humanize " Brittney rather than sensationalize her. I still feel that we are left with more questions than answers and you are left feeling sad for her in the end rather than feeling like she recieved any kind of justice for her death. One thing is for sure even if she was not murdered there was neglect somewhere. If anyone in her immediate surroundings excersied an iota of common sense she may still be alive today as her exercised an iota of common sense.… Expand

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Walteragogo

Oct 15, 2021

What Happened, HBO Documentaries? -After a lifetime of rich, engaging documentaries, HBO consistently delivers hollow, pretentious who-done-its with no logical conclusion. They have mastered the useless celebrity doc that serves no purpose other than to fill their hollow pipeline. Hate toWhat Happened, HBO Documentaries? -After a lifetime of rich, engaging documentaries, HBO consistently delivers hollow, pretentious who-done-its with no logical conclusion. They have mastered the useless celebrity doc that serves no purpose other than to fill their hollow pipeline. Hate to say it, but HBO? WTF? Take a lesson from the crappy drek that Netflix consistently delivers and dare to at least rise to their level. Please? Also, might be appropriate for HBO to apologize to Brittany Murphy and her fans for doing her such a disservice. While you’re at it, I’ll take an apology for wasting nearly two hours of my time…luckily i fast forwarded through much of this crap.

Finally, what happened to the brains of any of the reviewers to the left that gave this anything above a 30? Bought and paid for shame on you. This is crap. You should have the courage and good wits to call a spade a spade.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Seasons & Episodes

37

Series Overview
Season 1

37
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: October 14, 2021
- tbd
  S1:E2. Part 2
  Air Date: October 14, 2021
- tbd
  S1:E1. Part 1
  Air Date: October 14, 2021