Review of Tabloid (2011) by Neum D — 23 Feb 2012

It's an over-produced, underwhelming, but still entertaining documentary. The opening credits hint at a character study, but it's really just highlight storytelling with (crazy) Joyce McKinney and a couple of sleazy British tabloid journalists.

Forgoing any build-up or tension, the film sound-effects right into the primary conflict: Joyce "falls in love" with some Mormon, and kidnaps him in Britain. The scandalous details are well-documented here, and we sufficiently deduce that McKinney is gonzo (and her raspy laughter a bit demonic), but there's not much more to it than reliving old tabloid headlines.

Tabloid may have been attempting to illustrate a media mindset by detailing dueling tabloid papers and dangling tantalizing nuggets to the audience as some kind of slinky burlesque. And as a piece of entertainment, it pretty much succeeds, but as as a thoughtful analysis of the mechanisms that elevated the story to ridiculous heights, I wasn't feeling it.