The look says it all: When the Kid (played by Kevin Hart) connects with his older brother Carlton (played by Wesley Snipes), he knows he’s in trouble.
In his darkest turn yet, Hart is caught in that web that is as old as time itself: Family. In the newly released Netflix series True Story, the Kid not only sells out arenas with his stand-up act, but his fame’s leads him into a superhero franchise that just passed $1 billion in box-office gross. When his struggling brother Carlton (Snipes) shows up for a surprise visit, however, things quickly spiral into a dark pit.
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Following a misguided night out, Kid awakens in a hotel room next to the body of an overdosed dead woman — and then undertakes a series of increasingly reckless decisions in order to cover up her death and protect his career.
“Seven hours ago, you were the biggest MFer since Eddie,” Carlton says. “Now you about to be the most scandalous.”
Though the drama ratchets up like a twister touching down on Kansas, True Story shows promise through complexity. Turns out, the Kid is an alcoholic — a fact that his brother Carlton brazenly ignores when barging into the “V.V.I.P” room with shots and a party (and not his brother’s welfare) on his mind.
This seems to run in the family, however, with the Kid’s actions exacerbating his problems, beginning with the stiff party girl in his bed. Hart’s character seems to value his career and safety over decency and responsibility.
As far as murder is concerned, the Kid can’t lean on his regular support team, including manager Todd (Paul Adelstein), bodyguard Herschel (William Catlett), and writer Billie (Tawny Newsome). He certainly can’t lean on his wife given, one, the corpse, and two, the fact that the Kid’s already dealing with a public and messy divorce.
Fortunately for the Kid, his brother moves into action. As has always been the case with Carlton, however, big plans tend to lead into more disaster. In trying to elude one awful situation, True Story finds Carlton and Kid only making bigger messes as they try to cover up the ones they’ve already created.
“What else are you doing? You in trouble or on the run from the law?” an entertainment reporter teases an incredulous Kid.
True Story features dynamic acting and intense drama as the Kid and Carlton take more and more drastic action to save the extravagant, attention-lavished life he’s built. Whether to root for the Kid to retain this overindulgence or decide that he’s turned into his own character — a petulant child — is up to the audience to decide over the show’s seven episodes.
You can binge True Story on Netflix, which released all seven streaming episodes this week.
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