This Place Rules

With just the right amount of relief whether through comedy or lighthearted fun This Place Rules reveals in retrospect the perfect recipe for disaster which lead up to the 2020 election and the infamous January 6th attack on the United States capitol.

This Place Rules reveals the countless rabbit holes so many with the time or motivation on their hands slipped down into which lead to the desperation and extremism necessary for all the chaos we witnessed during that extremely delicate and volatile time in US history.

TPR is an easy 10/10 for me due to its lack of bias, honest journalism, perfect pacing, and a message everyone can and should get behind - especially as technology and vehicles for misinformation continue to advance.

In "This Place Rules" Andrew Callaghan doesn't spin narratives or tell you how to think - he simply documents events that led up to January 6th.

While cable news and mainstream media networks feed propaganda to the masses, it's nice to get a raw look at the insanity on both sides of the political spectrum. Not only is this documentary informative, it's also hilarious, sad, and - at times - just plain depressing. But it needs to be. All Callghan does is hold up a mirror to the audience.

If you don't like whatever message you get from this documentary then you need to take a long hard look inside yourself.

Andrew Callaghan and his brand, Channel 5, are unlike any journalism you've seen because it begs for your undivided attention while never seeing a boring moment throughout.

So, how far has America gone into the rabbit hole? Is there an end, or is that hole ever growing? Andrew brings us directly to the moment, we get to experience what his camera saw and believe me, you will want to see what that camera saw.

Andrew brings the same unflappability to every situation he encounters and covers and represents a standard the news industry has long aspired to but never quite satisfied.

This is how journalism should be done. I highly recommend getting a glimpse into the madness that is America.

If you've enjoyed Channel 5 or All Gas No Breaks then you will most likely enjoy This Place Rules. For those that haven't watched either, Andrew Callaghan's journalism style centers around fringe views, either being portrayed in a humorous or sometimes more sinister and discomforting way.

One nice thing about this documentary is that Andrew revisits a lot of the people he interviews which adds layers of meaning based on what's already been covered by the documentary. Andrew's interviewing style is also very refreshing from other interviewers since he's mostly silent, nodding his head, and being nonjudgmental, which allows the interviewees to speak for themselves.

As evident from the beginning, not everything is directly related to the capital riots, and some interviews are more loosly related and meant to be surreal or humorous tidbits from Andrew's experience, which some people might be turned off by.

Additionally, while Andrew for the most part remains neutral, there are instances where he asks leading questions or injects his opinion between interviews, which is helpful for tying the theme of the documentary, but personally I felt it was a bit redundant since a lot of the interviews really spoke for themselves. For the most part though, I really enjoyed the documentary and felt it was very powerful, especially towards the end.

Andrew Callaghan is best known for his YouTube videos where he interviews people with very large personalities who are also sometimes under the influence of various substances. I'm only a little familiar with his stuff, having seen a couple here and there, but the format was still recognizable in this feature-length documentary, which sees Callaghan going to various events that took place between November 2020 and January 2021. All revolved around the then-current election and its dramatic fallout, and along the way, he also interviews a few high-profile people in more standard interviews.

I do like how this film has a message without being preachy. While it does focus on extreme personalities on the right more than the left, it doesn't let those on the left off the hook, and feels a good deal more balanced than most contemporary American documentaries about politics as a result. The interviewees also make this more entertaining than most political documentaries... at least for a good portion of its runtime.

The biggest problem is that at a point, it does become a tiny bit repetitive. There are only so many rallies and screaming matches you can bear witness to before exhaustion sets in, but at the same time, the film's only about 80 minutes long, so it doesn't overstay its welcome too much. I think it concludes well, but also slightly jarringly, as Callaghan does become a little more obtrusive in the final 5-10 minutes, spelling out/directly discussing some of the things he's been building towards in order to give this a proper ending, and to ensure it doesn't just feel like binging 80 minutes worth of his YouTube videos.

But complaints aside, a lot of this is really good stuff, and I like his style of journalism. Modern news media and mainstream documentaries show how difficult it is to cover a subject like this in a way that's engaging, informative, and not biased, and I think Callaghan manages to do all of those for most of this film's runtime. For anyone who's not worried revisiting the world of politics in 2020 will make them tear their hair out in anger and/or despair, this documentary's easy to recommend.