Mimi wrote:
Big thumbs up for Dopesick (on Disney+, maybe elsewhere too?). Dramatisation of the Sackler Corporation’s (mis)handling of the opioid addiction that followed the launch and pushing of their ‘non-addictive’ opioid drug Oxycontin.
Some great performances from everyone. There’s barely anything other than an excellent performance. Michael Keaton is the biggest name that I recognise, and his character’s story arc ties the whole story together.
My brother is also reading a book called Empire Of Pain, on the same events, and said that’s worth reading also.
If you like Dopesick you’ll probably like The Dropout. Similar dramatisation of true events over a medical scandal and fraud. Stellar cast, only let down slightly by the casting of Stephen Fry, who whilst not playing Stephen Fry is as strongly Stephen Fry as Stephen Fry has ever been. Because he is so strongly Stephen Fry in this, though, and nobody can be as much of a Stephen Fry as Stephen Fry is, you have the feeling that this one character can’t be right, and therefore you start to wonder if the other characters are right, though most commentators and critics of the show have said that the characters are very, very authentic to the real people.