Framing John DeLorean (2019)

Framing John DeLorean is special because it doesn’t just recount a headline-grabbing rise and fall—it builds a living, breathing portrait using a clever hybrid of documentary investigation and acted scenes that keeps the story moving like a great thriller. The result is fascinating and genuinely engrossing, drawing you into the swagger, ambition, and contradictions of a man who seemed to will himself into legend even as the cracks widened. It has the slick, curious vibe of true-crime storytelling without turning its subject into a cartoon, offering a comprehensive look that’s as inspiring as it is cautionary. If you prefer straightforward talking-head docs, the stylized reenactment approach may not be your taste, but if you want an engaging, inventive way to meet a complex American icon, this one sticks.

Framing John DeLorean is clearly aiming to be a stylish, meta portrait of a charismatic genius who self-destructed, mixing real interviews and archival material with dramatized scenes to keep the story lively. The problem is that the hybrid approach can feel jarring and distractingly self-aware, with the reenactments (and Alec Baldwin’s prominent presence) sometimes pulling focus away from the documentary’s strongest moments. It also plays a bit unwieldy, skipping over key areas of DeLorean’s life and leaving the narrative feeling incomplete and occasionally hard to track. If you want a clean, comprehensive, straight-doc rundown of the scandal and the man, this may frustrate you—but if you’re open to an experimental format and don’t mind gaps, there’s still an intriguing character study in here.