They Called Him Mostly Harmless

documentary

d

This is a horrible documentary. It's boring and gives the spotlight to lazy depressed humans who utilize the internet and groups of moderation to have control over others. They're self centered and it's just depressing. This was absolutely trash and most of the characters didn't have anything of substance to provide. Basically two women, who're massively overweight who run a "true crime" club. It's just boring and you wait the entire time to find out who it is and he wasn't even a good person. So you listened to two sad depressing women complain for 90 minutes. Just Google it. Don't waste your time on this. Don't give this the time of day or these people any more attention.

As a fan of various YouTube mystery and crime channels, I recall the tale of Mostly Harmless popping up from time to time. Eventually it was "solved" but the strange, sad and lonely tale retained its interest. If you'd like to hear more about that, I recommend checking out channels on YouTube like Scary Mysteries or Barely Sociable. What THIS particular documentary represents is the story around the mystery. It's about the toxic and fannish world of True Crime aficionados, the infighting, the clashes, the betrayals and the often sad lives of the people behind the reddit accounts. Yes, the story of Mostly. Harmless is explored, but it's on the periphery. If you go in knowing what you're getting, that this is as much or more about the amateur forum posters attempting to solve the mystery and give a name to the enigmatic hiker, then you're in for a very fascinating documentary. But if you're already familiar with the case and looking for a break down or, worse, just looking for a proper investigative mystery, then you will probably come away disappointed and feeling a bit cheated.

First, as every review has stated this is NOT true crime. It is a depressing, hopeless void of sad, lonely, and pathetic people trying to find purpose on Facebook I learned more about Christie's life in the extended stay motel with her developmentally disabled sister than about the mystery man. The mystery man, who it turns out is a human pile of garbage that did the world a huge favor by leaving it (so it seems). The talking heads are mostly bullies, especially that Christi; Jesus Christ that bully is a piece of work and a pretty significant piece garbage, to be honest. The sleuths did more harm than good and in the end it was the science that solved the mystery and not a pathetic Facebook group. Like these Karen's were feeling each other to off themselves in these groups...WHAT?!?!? Good lord. This awful piece of garbage is enough to make anyone lose their hope in humanity. Watch it at your own peril.

source: They Called Him Mostly Harmless

Not a particularly interesting documentary, certainly a completely underwhelming not-even-a-twist ending. Sad lonely losers exhaust their time and waste their lives searching for a missing person on the internet; who turns out to be a POS. This is a microcosm of the entire social media community. Basement dwelling losers finding faux authority and power while nurturing narcissistic delusions through moderating groups and chat rooms online. You feel sorry for pretty much the entire cast- save for the main character; who again is just another loser who didn't wanna be found because of his shady past. I thought i expected more from hbo / max.. then again after the cringey natalia stories, maybe not so much.

This movie starts out like any good mystery making you wonder who the dead man is? People have seen him, people are looking; who is this guy walking on the Appalachian Trail? As far as they know his trail name is, "mostly harmless". Well it all seems like a good mystery until you find out in the end he's just a nobody special loner? It's not OK to make a movie about a random nobody that didn't do anything special other than get himself missing? I don't see the appeal in this other than right before the letdown. Maybe people like this because any mystery will do, but unless he's a serial killer or someone special that committed a serious crime that barely sets him apart from an average citizen to average criminal, then I don't see why this story is special in that it deserves a movie at all? Just a person who wanted to go missing and die because he was a woman abuser & had a bad upbringing that is hardly mentioned at the end? I don't really see why this guy deserved a movie at all?

This was an interesting story but the internet "sleuths" who were obsessed with the case are a bit much. Don't get me wrong, well meaning interest helps people get identified in police cases. People like Christie who only live vicariously through other's trauma are ridiculous. Here's a woman who spends half her life getting involved in cases she knows nothing about, to the point of harassing people. Christie tried to take full credit for getting this man identified, which isn't her credit to take. Her constant crying and acting the hero is extremely off putting. I can't imagine having so little of a real life yourself that you'd insert yourself in anything just to get attention. But then again, this is the story of the internet age. People can create their little FB groups and effectively harass people who have nothing to do with a case. That's probably the most disturbing takeaway I got from this. Very little was said about the actual victim himself. This appeared to be more of a showcase for the nut jobs like Christie. Others who were interested showed a more even keel. This is not the quality documentary that HBO usually creates. The story was interesting UNTIL it demonstrated that well meaning people like Natasha are overshadowed by the Christies of the world.

Vances are born unfortunately into chaos they make chaos and leave chaos behind if unfound. This story strip away the myth of connectedness in modern world and introduce the lonely lives that exists in shadows. Retrospectively the sleuths of whom most are falling into the aforesaid shadow realm put up a wholesome collective effort that gives a John doe a name that he himself wanted the world to forget. It's sad yet a mysterious venture of social detective work. A story told well methodically and cleverly. Rather than making a regular true crime doc this sleuthing odyssey is a unique and an inspiring social commentary.