REVIEW: Watched “Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie” four-part docuseries on HBO Max. The plot revolves around Sherri telling “her side of the story” of an infamous fake kidnapping in November 2016 that years later (five to be exact) would lead to her arrest for (numerous) lies to the FBI throughout the investigation. There was previously a version of these events told from the narrative of the (douchey) ex-husband, Keith on Hulu. This was at least supposed to be her opportunity to tell her truth and try to come away looking better. Did it work? Is this shit any good?

PROS: Pretty good job of having subjects interviewed, from the FBI, Sherri’s parents, Keith’s (estranged) sister, therapist, mental health doctor, a polygraph expert and others. Then there’s Sherri, who put on quite the performance if nothing else. If you’re looking for tears and “passion” in her on-air time you’re in luck. Also, there’s a few revealing moments and maybe even a shocker or two, none so more than her mother inadvertently turning heel by essentially saying her daughter lied about the actual kidnapping.

CONS: Way too many. For starters, not a word from Keith, James (both central parts of the story) or anyone who even knows them let alone extended family or friends of both. Like, get me family members, friends, former friends, coworkers literally fucking anyone who will speak on their character and behavior patterns—perhaps it could’ve been helpful in painting a better picture, especially someone collaborating Sherri’s consistent portrayal as Keith being an emotional and mental abuser. While we’re at it, sure sounds like James had a shitty upbringing and family, how is that now dived into far deeper?

Also, if the goal at least from Sherri’s standpoint was to come off more as victim than elaborate liar who spins things on the fly when needed, it failed miserably. The few times she was truly pushed to the limit of having to explain things that didn’t make sense she cracked—especially pinning the kidnapping on two fictional Hispanic females, the reaction to the revelation of James’ mother being Irish, WHY she claimed to pin it on fictional females (to drop hints that it was James, lol) and more than anything else, the ridiculous notion presented by her that she still can’t remember how the alleged kidnapping happened. She also got visibly angry when describing that she should’ve been allowed to leave if she wanted to even if it wasn’t actually a kidnapping, which pointed very strongly to me that the shit was never an impromptu kidnapping but part of a scheme to have an affair and/or get away from Keith.

Lastly and I say lastly though I could go on much longer, the directors don’t do nearly a good enough job of digging into what exactly happened during her 22 days of alleged captivity. It felt far more like an overview if not afterthought of what was a critical part of the story.

VERDICT/GRADE: I’m going to strongly assume Sherri Papini went into this with hope and expectations she’d come away more sympathetic if not forgiven. She asked the producers in the end, literally if they thought her doing the show did more harm than good. It wasn’t answered before the credits rolled so I’ll answer for them—-it unequivocally did more than harm than good. There’s lies told from her that end up coming clean, sort of—- and then there’s lies on hills she was willing to die on. In the end, she ends up copping to precious little wrong doing despite the in hindsight, rather deceiving show title.

I think where the ball’s dropped the most is a deeper and stronger portrayal of Keith being unquestionably a monster who emotionally abused Sherri (as testified by others, not Sherri) and held the kids over her as ammunition. Perhaps a stronger, multi-layered indictment of Keith as a bigger shitbag human would’ve left us more sympathetic and understanding of the things Sherri ultimately did. Instead we got fed a couple who both did fucked up shit, including Sherri documented as having multiple “emotional” affairs on Keith, not to mention the affair being elaborate enough to have burner phones. This didn’t do her any favors with her perception.

It’s not the worst true crime docuseries out there, certainly some fascinating nuances and moments scattered throughout the four episodes. But there’s far too much of this canvas that’s barely traced instead of painted, and if you present a story that mostly portrays the story coming from one side, I better be convinced the subject is more victim than fraud. The director(s) certainly tried to get the subject to be more truthful and revealing of the critical moments but it didn’t work. Anyway you look at it, for me this is mostly a dud. GRADE: C minus

♦♦♦♦♦

Follow Patrick Moran/Talking Buffalo Podcast 

Substack: Patrick Moran’s Substack

Twitter:  @PatrickMoranTB

Blue Sky: @PatrickMoranTB.bsky.social

Instagram: @PatrickMoranTB

Facebook: Talking Buffalo Podcast