‘The Dropout,’ Starring Amanda Seyfried as Elizabeth Holmes, Triumphs Where Other ‘Based on a True Story’ Shows Have Failed: TV Review
variety.comCaroline Framke Chief TV Critic“The Dropout” knows what it has in Elizabeth Holmes, the real-life enigma who managed to con the biggest power players in Silicon Valley and beyond that she, and she alone, was the future of technology in health care.
With her wide-set eyes and impossibly husky voice, Holmes emerged from the pack of bland bros in Patagonia vests as the kind of uniquely, perversely compelling figure that Hollywood has never been able to resist for long.
So as with any “stranger than fiction” story in recent memory, it was only a matter of time before someone adapted Holmes’ story to the screen; there’s ostensibly an HBO series in the works, as well as an Adam McKay movie starring Jennifer Lawrence as Holmes.
But this Hulu limited series, based on ABC’s podcast investigation into Holmes and her company Theranos, is the first — and its canny performances, writing, and directing should set a high bar for every other version to come. “The Dropout” follows Elizabeth (Amanda Seyfried) from her time as the ambitious teenage daughter of a disgraced Enron executive (Michael Gill), to her fraught time at Stanford, to her meeting manipulative businessman Sunny Balwani (Naveen Andrews), to building Theranos from the ground up without making sure the foundation could withstand any real pressure.
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