HBO Announces Alex Gibney’s Opioid Crisis Doc “Crime of the Century”
By Kip Mooney• On • In NewsNewsComments Off on HBO Announces Alex Gibney’s Opioid Crisis Doc “Crime of the Century”
I would love to know where Alex Gibney gets the energy. The Oscar-winning director has made at least one vital, informative doc each year for the past decade. In 2020 alone, he made three: Crazy, Not Insane, about the psychology of murderers; Agents of Chaos, about Russia's attempts to interfere in the 2016 election; and Totally Under Control, about the Trump administration's disastrous handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
His first film of 2021 is a two-part expose on the opioid crisis. The Crime of the Century features interviews with whistleblowers, medical experts and journalists about the profitable and deadly efforts of pharmaceutical companies to push addictive pills to patients in pain. Testimony from victims and their families will drive home the horrific impact this had on the country. Bribery, corruption, greed and fraud all came together to kill 40 people a day at the height of the epidemic. Like many of his films, I'm expecting it to be both eye-opening and enraging.
The Crime of the Century will premiere on HBO and HBO Max in May.
About Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about.
I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague.
Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work.
In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo.
I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.
