Stream It Or Skip It?

That’s one hell of a load-bearing question mark: The Truth About Jussie Smollett? is Netflix’s latest attempt to… well, what have they been trying to do with their spate of documentaries about sensational subjects like Connor Stallions, Rob Ford and Aaron Rodgers? Investigate things? Capitalize on controversy? Stir up the muck? Function as a promotional tool, inadvertently or otherwise? This new one is notable for featuring a rare sit-down with Smollett, the former Empire actor and musician who’s currently trying to jumpstart his career after it fell apart in 2019. Netflix sells the doc as featuring “new evidence” about the high-profile incident that took Smollett down – now let’s see if it’s compelling or just a lot of hot air. 

The Gist: There’s a good chance you’re aware of the Smollett saga, but let’s quickly recap: As one of the topline stars of Lee Daniels’ hit Fox TV series Empire, the actor was recognizably famous. It was a bitterly cold night in 2019 when Smollett left his apartment in a tony neighborhood of Chicago. There weren’t many people out, especially after midnight in the frigid weather. He walked to a nearby Subway for a sandwich. He says, on the way back, he was attacked by two White men in ski masks who shouted slurs – Smollett is Black and gay – and “this is MAGA country” at him before beating him up and putting a noose around his neck. Smollett reported the incident to the Chicago police, who, after investigating the matter, claimed the TV star made the whole thing up in order to “boost his career,” going so far as to hire two men to “attack” him. Smollett stuck to his story throughout lengthy legal proceedings; he eventually was found guilty of filing a false police report and sentenced to fines and jail time. In 2024, the judgment was reversed on a technicality.

Such is the baseline narrative functioning as the documentary’s jumping-off point. Director Gagan Rehill rounds up most of the key figures in the story: Smollett sits down for an extensive interview – and honestly he and the film kind of make a show out of it, amping up the drama. Former Chicago Police Commissioner Eddie Johnson and Chief of Detectives Melissa Staples (she says this is “the first and last time” she’ll be interviewed about this) participate. The two brothers who Smollett allegedly hired, Ola Osundario and Bola Osundario, share their side of the story,. And of course, lawyers and journalists – ever the nuts-and-bolts talking heads of documentaries like this – provide context. Most notably, two more investigative journalists turn up in the final half-hour to share some reasonably compelling evidence that at least partly supports Smollett’s story. Is this film retrying Smollett’s case, in all its thorny, politically and racially charged context? Yeah, kind of. 

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: One gets the sense that this might’ve been an episode of Netflix’s mostly silly, sensational Trainwreck series had it not been for the sensitive social politics of Smollett’s saga. 

Performance Worth Watching: Chelli Stanley strikes me as the most credible journalist in the film.

Memorable Dialogue: “It looks like a White man. No, wait.”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: No surprise, The Truth About Jussie Smollett? doesn’t provide any definitive answers, laying a bunch of stuff out there so we can decide for ourselves, I guess. Rehill’s presentation of the circumstances of the case and new and old evidence is clear and concise, in direct contrast to the clear-as-mud motives for both sides: Why would Smollett stage the attack in the first place? And if he didn’t, why would Chicago police work so hard to smear the guy? We see one of Commissioner Johnson’s showy press conferences where he claimed Smollett was unhappy with his career, which struck me as irresponsible conjecture that flies in the face of the fact that the guy was on a hit TV show making $100,000 per episode. Meanwhile, the independent journalists trot out claims that Chicago P.D. suppressed and altered surveillance footage and eyewitness testimonies, and point to the organization’s long history of corruption and a need for a “win” as to why they’d antagonize Smollett.

Most fascinating is one of the videos the journalist’s FOIA request turned up, which addresses the curious notion that Smollett claimed his attackers were White, while the Osundarios are very clearly Black. Rehill shows it to Smollett’s supporters, his detractors and objective observers, and the moment – the doc’s juiciest by far – functions as a remedial lesson in confirmation bias. Nothing is clear; everything is mud; perception is reality; everything is politics.

As for the tenor of the talking heads? Does it say a lot that Smollett’s lawyer – whose firm has represented Michael Jackson, Andrew Tate, Mike Tyson and Chris Brown – comes off the most sincere? Yes. It’s also confusing for those of us trying to suss out the truth. The Osundarios are the least convincing, their presence weird and awkward, like lousy actors latching onto opportunities for self-promotion, and their lawyer doesn’t seem to take anything seriously. Johnson and Staples come off surly and dismissive, doubling down on their certainty. And Smollett is oddly overdramatic at times, as if well-practiced in the art of sincerity; I can see some interpreting that as performance, and others seeing it as anger funneled through a calm, collected demeanor. Is Smollett piggybacking on “new evidence” in an attempt to claw back some of his career success? Who knows. It’s a legit question. The optics aren’t great, but neither are they free from obfuscation. 

Our Call: Nobody should realistically expect The Truth About Jussie Smollett? to be the next The Thin Blue Line, which famously exonerated an unjustly imprisoned man. With that in mind, the doc is highly watchable and fascinating, toning down some of the sensationalism and functioning at least as an assertion that truth is doggedly, frustratingly elusive. STREAM IT.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.