Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple Cider Vinegar
The life of wellness guru Belle Gibson, who had a large social media following, where she pretended to be suffering from cancer but keeping the disease under control using self-care therapies. She confessed that none of it was true.
rg9400 reviewedFebruary 12, 2025
The very ending of the show starts the standard text appearing on screen to highlight where all the real-life people the story is based on ended up, only to be interrupted by Kaitlyn Dever telling you that you can just Google it. This is a microcosm of how this series approaches the typical biopic format, constantly going out of its way to loudly try to break the rules. The series doesn't try to act vague about character motivations, giving very explicitly defined characters with their interiority fully on display. It also doesn't fixate on only the biopic's focus of Belle Gibson, utilizing an array of other characters who all feel like they are their own people outside of her. This works really well since the show does land emotional beats which I find are exceedingly rare in biopics, often times utilizing these other characters. At its core, the story is about a fairly heavy and dark topic, and it never minces how it feels about cancer, those who try to take advantage of it, or those who are just looking for hope. However, it also has an oddly dark sense of humor, with a surprising amount of comedic moments as well. It's also loaded with a ton of bombastic stylistic choices. At times, I never felt like they were necessarily wowing me, but they kept the show visually entertaining instead of allowing it to feel flat. Alycia Debnam-Carey is fantastic, but the most notable thing about this show is Kaitlyn Dever's stunning performance. I already knew she was a brilliant actress, but she's cut her teeth on more timid roles while in this, she manages to play a much more talkative and expressive character through a range of emotions. I can't wait to see what she does with Abby.