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It is important to watch "American Crime: Monica Lewinsky" despite its many problems

Ryan Murphy's series seeks to do justice to Monica Lewinsky.

This is a worthy goal, but as is the way of the super producer, he does it without refinement, with a superficiality that sounds like scripted drafts of high school students in the film department, and this time also with distracting makeup.

Despite this, the series is worth watching for another important reason

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• American crime

• Monica Lewinsky

• TV review

• Ryan Murphy

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Wednesday, 29 September 2021, 00:00 Updated: 00:06

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Trailer for the series "American Crime: Monica Lewinsky" (FX)

It seems that of all the series in which Ryan Murphy is involved ("American Horror," "911 Hotline," "Rached," "The Politician," "Enemies," formerly also "Glee" and "Nip / Tuck"), "American Crime" Attracts the most media, critical and figurative attention.

Probably because this anthology series deals with real scandals (O.J. Simpson's trial in the first season, Versace's murder in the second) that are still fresh in the minds of many Americans, and the combination with his television resume invites some influx.

The third series, "American Crime: Monica Lewinsky," which airs today (Wednesday) Bite, allegedly deals with Bill Clinton's 1998 dismissal trial, following the false testimony he gave about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. Which is itself not the crime in question, or a crime at all).

Murphy, to say the least, does not always issue watchable TV products but this time, and the truth is that like the first season of the series, "American Crime" manages to touch a dormant American sadness that is definitely asked to be revealed again.

It is worth giving him the credit that this is not a coincidence.

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At least we'll promise ourselves we'll not do it again. Benny Feldstein in the intern role of having an affair with the president, "American Crime: Monica Lewinsky" (Photo: FX)

Murphy, along with playwright Sarah Burgess who wrote the series, chose to move the Clinton couple (played by Clive Owen and Eddie Falco) into the background, focusing the plot on the women who drove the novel's revelation: Linda Tripp (the ever-excellent Sarah Paulson, who everyone talks about Her unrecognizable exterior appearance, but in fact it's the voice that is particularly similar to Trip), Paula Jones (Anhali Ashford, "Masters Sex") and of course Monica Lewinsky (Benny Feldstein, "Woods the Night," "What Happens in the Shadows"). Beyond that, Murphy devoutly included all the other key characters in the affair and of course cast a million familiar names to play them (including Margo Martindale, Kobe Smolders, Judith Lite, Billy Eichner, Kevin Polk, Blair Underwood, Colin Hanks, Mira Sorbino and more). Murphy loves actors and actors love him, that has never been his problem.

The narrative, despite repeated chronological leaps, adheres to the three women and anchors itself in their point of view, which sometimes manages to shed light on their dubious actions.

But it is not refined.

Murphy and Burgess' treatment certainly exhibits quite a bit of hasty superficiality, especially when it comes to the dialogues of Clinton and Lewinsky, which often sound like screenplay drafts of high school film students who were given the task of getting from point A to point B in one scene.

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Everyone is talking about the external appearance, but the same voice is the thing.

Sarah Paulson as Linda Trip, "American Crime: Monica Lewinsky" (Photo: FX)

The non-existent chemistry between Feldstein and Owen does not contribute to the situation, though at least some of it is not their fault. The insistence on burying him (and Paulson and Ashford) under layers of prostheses only limits the nuances they can convey, and generally creates a feeling that we are in the middle of a costume party. Why was this necessary at all? We all know what they look like, most of us know what real people look like, and we really would have accepted that dissonance with understanding (which, by the way, does not bother at all in the case of Falco as Hillary or Smoulders as Anne Coulter, who were not forced to spend hours in the makeup room).

Beyond that, the attempt to inject a drop of humor into Paula Jones' plots comes out in most cases crooked, slightly ridiculing her unnecessarily and even sabotaging the overall message, and the fake accents of Martindale and Eichner are simply unfortunate.

"American Crime" is no stranger to bold / angular acting choices (John Travolta in the first season), but the price of trying to resemble the original by such drastic means is to keep the viewer away from the underlying cinematic illusion that reinforces viewing, certainly when it comes to a true story cut from the headlines.

It's not always worth it.

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costume party.

Clive Owen as Bill Clinton, "American Crime: Monica Lewinsky" (Photo: FX)

As for the usual fear that always accompanies Murphy's works - is "American Crime: Monica Lewinsky" campy and yellow? Probably, but this is an element that should not be blamed this time. Monica reveals her panties to Clinton in the middle of a room full of people; Monica opens conversations with Clinton on "Hey, Handsome"; Monica forces Linda to watch her interrogation because she wants "this bitch to see what she did to me" - these are quotes and direct reconstructions from Lewinsky herself, who even serves as a producer here.

It is important to remember that the series is based on a story told through the eyes of those who experienced it more than twenty years ago, a naturally laundered version that she has heard dozens of times in interviews, lectures and conversations, so of course the juicier and yellower things will stick.

Murphy & Co. obviously took creative liberties, but in this case they are certainly conceivable.

Lewinsky, it turns out, even implored them to go further in some cases, precisely because this story is so well-publicized and many remember every detail in it, so there is really no point in being modest now.

The years that have passed have probably allowed her to be bolder, although even at that time her mouth did not fill with water and she did not hesitate to speak openly about things and answer questions that today no one would dare ask her.

Maybe except for Mionit Levy at the "Influencers Conference."

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Here, it is possible without excessive makeup. Edie Falco as Hillary Clinton, "American Crime: Monica Lewinsky" (Photo: FX)

But the real story that makes it worth watching "American Crime: Monica Lewinsky" is bigger than Murphy and bigger than his series. I'm old enough to remember the phrase "Monica Lewinsky" from the news releases, but what I mostly remember is the same Lewinsky video with the beret hugging Clinton, that someone pre-internet - that is, a professional editor who was paid to do it - "handled" Bo created a loop to simulate a pompom of the two. That and the jokes from Jay Leno's monologues of course, which sucked the blood of this affair for years, Belvinsky abused and hit her over and over again. Hundreds upon hundreds of times he hinted in such and such words that she was a nymphomaniac, a prostitute, a sexually transmitted disease, a sex addict, a publicist, a cunning, a conspirator, a traitor, a snake, a seducer, a sucker, and the link between her and the song "She's a Man Eater" To this day.

These jokes, which can probably be found on YouTube somewhere, certainly look old and ugly when lit up in the spotlight of 2021, but it's amazing to remember how easy and natural it seems then to both play them and laugh at them.

Jay Leno, of course, was not the only one, most of the media activity revolved around the most powerful man in the world and the political consequences of the affair he "fell into," and without noticing we all consumed this image of Lewinsky as the frivolous bimbo that * her * sexual instincts might lead to.

No one thought at all to present the affair from the point of view of the 23-year-old intern who made a mistake when she was turned on by her boss, the responsible adult in the story, in the oldest and most responsible sense there is.

As we interviewed her, most of the questions focused on trying to get as many outrageous and rude details as possible.

Barbara Walters even dared to slap her "how did you not think of Hillary and Chelsea?", As if that was her job and hers alone.

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Urged the producers to go far.

The Real Monica Lewinsky (Photo: GettyImages, Pascal Le Segretain)

Lewinsky is now working hard against shaming and bullying on social media, phenomena that burned her flesh and scarred her soul even though she did not live in the age of social media at all.

This is probably why she agreed to be involved in the series, to visually illustrate the disgraceful treatment she received, and to try to make sure no one and everyone will have to endure it.

The series has yet to address this aspect of the affair in its first installment, but all indications are that it will come, and the precedents are certainly encouraging: Murphy did an excellent job in the first season raising Marsha Clark's image to debate, beating about sin and rehabilitating.

I do not remember Jay Leno publicly apologizing to Lewinsky for his part in the matter, although he certainly should.

We - anyone who was exposed to this poison at the time, swallowed it, laughed at it and did not think to doubt it - can at least watch the series to understand, become wise and assure ourselves that we will not do it again.

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