One of the many scandals that shocked the world was the 2019 college admissions scandal. Netflix’s latest documentary, Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal is a story about the rich trying to beat the system. Directed by documentarian and filmmaker Chris Smith, Operation Varsity Blues uses reenactments to examine the man responsible for the scandal, Rick Singer, who snuck wealthy teenagers of famous families into some of the finest US universities.
The film's main focus is the pressure many high school students face to have to attend “prestigious” universities like Princeton, Stanford, and the University of Southern California. The true crime documentary opens with the high hopes of young high school students yearning to receive letters of acceptance from their dream school, then delves into what audiences were looking for, the shocking scandal about the story of the rich and famous.
As previously stated, the film includes reenactments featuring Matthew Modine who gives a confident performance as Singer, the ring leader at the center of the scandal. Yet, the true stars of the film are the people who knew Singer such as John Vandemoer, the former Stanford coach who pled guilty to conspiracy and racketeering. Vandemoer lost everything in life and faced zero jail time, but shares interesting insights about his time with Singer. The film features complex interviews and brings more context to the case.
The uneven Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal comes off as two extremely different films with the use of documentary-style interviews and entertaining reenactments. At times, the film feels like a low-budget Lifetime crime movie. Lifetime aired their own college admission scandal film starring Mia Kirshner and Penelope Ann Miller. Smith's documentary presents shocking new evidence to the audience including phone transcripts from the FBI.
Operation Varsity Blues demonstrates how the college education system is broken and how many others want it to stay broken. The documentary has no sympathy for the people in the wrong, openly showing how the wealthy parents are mainly to blame for this controversial scandal. Although rated R, Smith's film is a conversation piece to watch with many high school families. The documentary tells a straightforward, riveting story of the rich trying to get away with anything.
Aud: H, C, P. Recommend.