'American Vandal' S1: Hilariously Redickilous Satire of 'The Staircase'

CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media Distribution terrifically team up to bite the hand that feeds them regarding the February 12, 2019 DVD release of S1 of the Netflix series "American Vandal." This certified-fresh series satirizes fellow Netflix fare "The Staircase" and other true-crime series. A personal endorsement is staying up way past a personally imposed bedtime to find out "whodunit" in this amusingly compelling series. 

Unintentional satire in "Vandal" is following the tradition of casting clearly post-adolescents as high-school students. Jimmy Tatro ("22 Jump Street") does well as literal prime-suspect Dylan Maxwell, but the series does not address why this 25 year-old is a a high-school senior. This is not to mention 26 year-old Calum Worthy ("Austin and Ally") in his hilarious role as disliked honor-student Alex Trimboli. For that matter, Worthy checks the box for the former Disney Channel star showing that he is all grown-up. Dez would never lie about Ally providing a "helping hand." 

The following YouTube clip of a Netflix trailer for "Vandal" is almost guaranteed to make you laugh; an absolute guarantee is that the clips include more drawings of penises than any other promo. for any film or television series. 

"Vandal" Creator Dan Perrault and Tony Yacenda demonstrate perfect instincts regarding setting a documentary series investigating a headline-grabbing crime at a high school.

The fun begins with the central offense being the hilarious prank of spray painting penises (a.k.a. dicks) on every car in the faculty parking lot on a day that there is no school because the teachers are at an all-day meeting, The Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings illustrate that the type of antics that relate to the vandalism OFTEN are entertaining and ALWAYS provide fodder for gossip girls and boys.

One spoiler is that the season-ending "Breakfast Club" epilogue comments on high-school culture. All students are subject to quick and permanent labels. This reinforces the larger concept that something traumatic that happens to someone else is devastating to them and hilarious to us.

A strong element of this is the epic high-school party that is discussed for the rest of the year. The relevant issues this time include how the claim of breaking a school drinking record affects the credibility of eye-witness Trimboli. We also see analysis of cell-phone footage that show conspirators plotting the evil deed.

The hilarious concept for presenting all this is AV nerd Peter Maldonado producing the eponymous documentary series; his dual objectives are to clear the name of Maxwell and to discover the actual culprit. Much of this consists with interviews with textbook (pun intended) stoner meathead Maxwell, whom Tatro perfectly plays. The DVD bonuses included must-see extended interviews with Maxwell and other equally funny talking heads. 

Some of the best humor relates to Maxwell having tormented Spanish teacher Ms. Shapiro for years; this including the lad daily drawing a penis on the classroom whiteboard does not help his case. On a brighter note, this circumstantial (and circumcised) evidence also indicates that possibility of someone framing Dylan.

A related issue is Peter noting that the style of the penises on the whiteboards and on the cars have several differences. We further get a reconstruction that addresses the time required to spray paint a penis. 

"Vandal" does an excellent job both with the pacing of the series and in keeping things plausible.To paraphrase P.T. Banum, no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American teenager. 

The extra-credit aspect of "Vandal" is that is shows that hope remains regarding the quality of "single-cam" "modern" mockumentary television series.