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- YouTube Premium
- Mar 23, 2021
- YouTube Premium
- Mar 23, 2021
Summary The four-part documentary series directed by Michael D. Ratner features discussions of the pop singer's personal and professional life including what led to her near-fatal drug overdose in 2018 and her ensuing recovery.
- YouTube Premium
- Mar 23, 2021
- YouTube Premium
- Mar 23, 2021
Summary The four-part documentary series directed by Michael D. Ratner features discussions of the pop singer's personal and professional life including what led to her near-fatal drug overdose in 2018 and her ensuing recovery.
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Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
73
78% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
22% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
73
78% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
22% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Dancing with the Devil is raw and heartbreaking and challenging to watch — which makes it all the more imperative that people do hear Lovato’s harrowing story. ... This is not a fun, poppy documentary, and it’s also not four episodes of hot goss. There’s a calming quality to the fact that the backgrounds of these interviews feature water or fountains or palm trees, while the clothes seem to pop with light, bright colors, as the concern in everyone’s voices will keep you watching.
While gut wrenching and potentially triggering, Dancing With the Devil is brutally honest and admirably resists putting a rosy filter on a life-or-death issue.
The reason the series will resonate is because of how candid she is about the complexities of addiction, the bumpy road of recovery, the pressures to be a poster child for sobriety, and the effects an episode like the one she experienced has on those in a person’s life. It’s perhaps corny but valid to venture that it could even save people’s lives.
Bracingly honest. ... Dancing raises a host of thorny, complex issues — too many for its brief runtime of four 22-minute episodes.
Lovato shares information in a torrent. It’s a welcome shift away from the enforced silences around stars like Britney Spears, to be sure, but also a challenging and emotionally demanding viewing experience, one that lacks the time or space that would allow certain key revelations to land.
Dancing With the Devil is brutally honest even by its subject’s standards. ... Frustratingly, all this honesty is sometimes undermined aesthetically by production choices.
While she demonstrates courage to share the hardest portions of her life, the massive hurdles associated with drugs, her arduous physical recovery, and her own soul searching — the documentary’s staging also feels especially shallow. From the gauche title card showing the cloaked singer looking over a foggy mountain to the cheerleading interviews with friends and family, we don’t get the sense that the singer’s veneer has fallen. Rather it’s been reshaped and retooled for the moment.