‘Bad Actor: A Hollywood Ponzi Scheme’ Review: A Dull Documentary About a Fascinating Showbiz Grifter
variety.comSiddhant Adlakha “Bad Actor: A Hollywood Ponzi Scheme” centers on an immensely interesting subject — financial fraudster and D-List actor Zach Horowitz, a.k.a.
Zach Avery — but ends up telling his tale in uninteresting ways. The film draws its various techniques from far better and more accomplished documentaries, resulting in a multifaceted, mixed-bag approach that never clicks, thanks in large part to how the movie chooses to reveal information.
Director Joslyn Jensen appears on-screen early into the runtime and becomes a primary character in the film. She’s as much a subject as Avery and his various victims — people he befriended over the years and scammed out of millions of dollars.
But Jensen is also a deeply uninteresting focal point who takes up far too much of the screentime. By centering her to the degree that it does, “Bad Actor” becomes a film about process on multiple fronts.
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