Stream It Or Skip It: ‘What Happened, Brittany Murphy?’ On HBO Max, A Disappointing Documentary That Fails To Honor The Late Star

The posthumous celebrity documentary treatment seems to be something of a rite of passage these days; gone-too-soon flicks like I Am Heath Ledger, Amy, Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind, and Whitney have all shed an emotional light on their subjects with the help of many a family member, colleague, and journalist. What Happened, Brittany Murphy?, now streaming on HBO Max, looks to do the same for the late actress. 

WHAT HAPPENED, BRITTANY MURPHY?: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: We get a glimpse of the LA skyline at dusk as text flashes on screen: “Hollywood. December 20, 2009.”

The Gist: When Brittany Murphy died at just 32 years old in 2009, the world went into shock. “There was nobody like Brittany,” costars, friends, and colleagues tell us, trying to emphasize just how special she was. Over the course of What Happened, Brittany Murphy?‘s first hour, the mysterious circumstances surrounding her death, her shady husband, and her fading star are all examined with the help of some tabloid journalists and industry folks. Murphy always had that spark, even as a little kid in New Jersey stealing the show during theater performances and telling everyone she could about her big Broadway and Hollywood dreams. Her career took off quickly, starting with commercials and TV shows and finally getting started on the big screen with Clueless. Director Amy Heckerling recalls that special something Murphy had, how she was younger than everyone on set and brought a sort of childlike goodness to everything. And then came the pressures of Hollywood.

What Happened, Brittany Murphy? quickly pivots from the late star’s death and humble beginnings to the impact Hollywood had on Murphy, chronicling her dramatic weight loss and decision to go blonde in the hopes that casting directors might see her as more “fuckable”. The doc doesn’t spend too much time here, however, because it soon gets caught up in the strange persona of Murphy’s screenwriter husband, Simon Monjack, who is, to put it lightly, weird. As the first hour of this two-part documentary comes to a close, we hear from some YouTubers who speculate there was some serious foul play involved in Murphy’s death, and a lot of fingers seem to point to Monjack.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? What Happened, Brittany Murphy? may remind you a little bit of other celebrity documentaries out there like Framing Britney Spears, Amy (though Amy is a much better piece of filmmaking), and I Am Heath Ledger.

Our Take: What Happened, Brittany Murphy? is genuinely baffling. The first tell is that they weren’t able to get very many people from Murphy’s past to sit down for the doc (I’m frankly shocked they got Amy Heckerling), and from there, things only get weirder. What Happened, Brittany Murphy? uses home videos, film clips, and some extremely hokey reenactments to try to paint a picture of the star, but none of it really hits home. The doc’s only strong moments come when you get lost in those old clips of Murphy, because she was simply that magnetic. As soon as we get back to the actual content of What Happened, Brittany Murphy?, however, you’re immediately ripped from that dream and plunged into a bleak, exploitative nightmare, one that engages with true crime beauty blogger conspiracy theories and opens with a horrifying 911 call. And that call is a particularly upsetting note to start the series on, especially given the rest of the doc’s bizarre tone. (I couldn’t help but feel like we were eavesdropping on one of the most traumatic moments of someone’s life – and that’s just the first couple minutes).

My biggest issue with What Happened, Brittany Murphy? isn’t necessarily that it dallies with these true crime theories, or that it uses film clips to help emphasize emotional beats in such cringeworthy fashion I had to look away. No, it’s that it feels like Clickbait: The Movie! above anything else, easily tossing aside its late star and the life she lived – one that undeniably warrants examining – in favor of the more salacious headline opportunities. Her late husband, Simon Monjack, doesn’t make for the villain the documentary thinks he does, and What Happened, Brittany Murphy?‘s choice to spend more time digging into him than shedding light on its titular star is a misguided choice to say the least. It’s truly a bummer. Murphy deserved so much better from all of us when she was here, and she certainly deserves better than this incoherent, exploitative excuse for a documentary now that she’s gone.

Sex and Skin: There are some suggestive clips from Murphy’s movies, but not much else.

Parting Shot: Simon Monjack’s mother and brother sit down for an interview about Simon and Brittany.

Most Pilot-y Line: So many of the interviews in What Happened, Brittany Murphy? are full of cliché observations and corny lines, often so similar that I wondered if they were reading from the same script. They don’t even warrant recording.

Our Call: SKIP IT. What Happened, Brittany Murphy? is an incoherent, half-baked excuse for a documentary that chooses to disrespect and exploit its late subject rather than paying any tribute whatsoever to her memory.

Jade Budowski is a freelance writer with a knack for ruining punchlines, hogging the mic at karaoke, and thirst-tweeting. Follow her on Twitter: @jadebudowski.

Stream What Happened, Brittany Murphy? on HBO Max