The Dropout is a miniseries that depending on where you live you can check out on either Hulu or Disney Plus. It is based on the true story of the morally corrupt sociopath, Elizabeth Holmes and her health company, Theranos. I remember hearing about this in the news at the time, but I never paid super close attention to it.
How to Download The Dropout
You can stream it or you can download the film from a digital platform Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice.
The Movie Review
I remember hearing bits and pieces on the news about Holmes when this was all going down and the various shady things, she had done became public. However, I have to say that watching The Dropout was quite shocking, it was shocking to see that someone could be this morally corrupt and just screw over so many people to make sure they are at the top.
The story tells us about Elizabeth Holmes and how he was a super smart kid and while she was at college, she knew exactly what she wanted and decided to drop out to make it happen. There is a bit more complexity than that at play here, but at 19 she quits college and decides she is going to go to the top and the top is a health company called Theranos.
Theranos was the talk of the town and got many people excited, hundreds of millions of dollars would be invested, many people thought that they were one of the good guys and that Theranos and Holmes were trying to help people, but the only person she is trying to help is herself. I do think that on occasion they are trying to give her a bit of sympathy, but it sure as hell did not work with me!
I have to say that the first couple of episodes of The Dropout do a wonderful job of showing how smart and witty she is. We also get to see just how ruthless she is and how she is not scared to make morally horrible decisions. The thing about the decisions that she makes is that these are all very much the right decisions for her and her quest for power, but they are completely morally wrong and hurt many other people.
The very talented Amanda Seyfried gives a career-defining performance as Elizabeth Holmes. I am pretty sure that there have to be a few awards for Amanda Seyfried in the coming year for what she has done here. There is also a great supporting cast here too with the likes of William H Macey, Stephen Fry, Michael Ironside, Michel Gil, and Bill Irwin to name a few.
As I got into The Dropout, I got more interested in the actual case of Elizabeth Holmes and I think that they did a good job of telling her story in a dramatic way here. I will say that I do find it a bit “questionable” that Hulu/Disney Plus decided to put this show out before she was sentenced in real life, but who am I to judge?
I thought that The Dropout was an excellent mini-series and one that is well worth watching. I am sure it is great if you have been following the Elizabeth Holmes story, but even if you were not like me, it is still a very entertaining show. It was so entertaining, it made me interested in the real story!
