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Neflix's Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal has further exposed the largest college admissions scandal to date, bringing attention to the pervasive nature of how rich, primarily white parents schemed a system that was already skewed in favor of their children. Education is perceived as the great equalizer within society, but Rick Singer's "side door" for the wealthy serves as another example of how money and power create more inequities on an already unlevel playing field.

Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal shines a harsh light on Singer (played by Matthew Modine). The mastermind and orchestrator of the scheme, Singer networked with parents who were willing to do anything to get their children into top-notch colleges and universities. In a press release, writer and producer Jon Karmen stated, "It was interesting to learn how Singer would work with these parents.

Although it is ostensibly a somewhat impartial examination of the scheme employed by Rick Singer to empower his lucrative business of side-stepping the college admissions process to the benefit of the children of his numerous wealthy clients, Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal, takes the unique approach of interspersing interviews with several of the actual participants of the case (mostly those on the “law and order” side of the aisle) and dramatic recreations of the conversations between Singer and his clients that the FBI obtained through wiretaps to tell the story that, yet again, brought to national attention the inequality between the privileged and those who are not.

Working from a script by Jon Karmen, director Chris Smith expertly illustrates the depths to which Singer went to pull off his colossal grift. It is a testament to the work of both Karmen and Smith that the film is so...

Director Chris Smith (“Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened”) gets another juicy contemporary headline-grabber to unpack with “Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal.” This new film might lack the larger-than-life players and salty schadenfreude of that earlier Netflix documentary, but it does offer a look into both the titular scam and a broken higher education system that allowed for such chicanery.

If the first names that come to mind around this case are “Lori Loughlin” and “Felicity Huffman,” Smith wants people to think about the man at the center of it all: Rick Singer. The “side door” he offered wealthy parents to get their progeny into top-tier universities was illegal, yes, but his scam merely underscores the outrageous advantages that rich people have when it comes to getting an education for their kids.

The players here weren’t constantly documenting themselves the way the Fyre Festival organizers were,...

Operation Varsity Blues The College Admissions Scandal Trailer — Netflix‘s Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal (2021) movie trailer has been released. The Operation Varsity Blues The College Admissions Scandal trailer stars Matthew Modine, Leroy Edwards III, Wallace Langham, Sarah Chaney, and Ken Weiler. Crew Jon Karmen wrote the screenplay for Operation Varsity Blues: [...]

Continue reading: Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal Trailer: Netflix’s 2021 Film Chronicles the Rich Cheating for Their Kids...

Netflix has released the first official trailer for “Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal,” a deep dive into the 2019 bribery scandal that led to over 50 high-profile arrests, including actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman. The criminal conspiracy to guarantee admission to elite institutions was arranged and designed by a man named Rick Singer, who will be dramatized by Matthew Modine in the film. The documentary was directed by Chris Smith and written by Jon Karmen, who had a hand in Netflix’s Fyre Festival documentary “Fyre” as well as the smash hit docuseries “Tiger King.”

That should offer some idea of the tone of “Operation Varsity Blues,” which is sure to deliver the vicarious thrill of watching the demise of entitled people who think money and privilege will inure them from consequences. While the film does not claim to be a hybrid documentary, the recreations with Modine appear so...

Netflix has released the full trailer for “Operation Varsity Blues,” its documentary film on the 2019 college admissions scandal, which you can watch above.

The film features a mix of scripted reenactments and real taped phone calls and interviews with prosecutors. Matthew Modine portrays Rick Singer, the mastermind behind the entire scandal.

“Operation Varsity Blues” premieres on March 17.

The logline for the film describes it as “an examination that goes beyond the celebrity-driven headlines and dives into the methods used by Singer, the man at the center of the shocking 2019 college admissions scandal, to persuade his wealthy clients to cheat an educational system already designed to benefit the privileged.” Directors Chris Smith and Jon Karmen used a combination of interviews and narrative recreations of the FBI’s wiretapped conversations between Singer and his clients to offer “a rare glimpse into the enigmatic figure behind a scheme that exposed the lengths wealthy...

Netflix has released a new trailer for its film on the 2019 college admission scandal, Operation Varsity Blues, set to premiere March 17th.

The film is primarily centered around narrative reenactments of the FBI’s wiretapped phone calls between Rick Singer, the scheme’s mastermind, and the wealthy parents who were willing to do whatever it took to get their kids into elite colleges. Matthew Modine stars as Singer, and the new trailer finds him peddling his “side door” admission tactics, which included everything from fudging Sat and Act exam results...

Netflix is enrolling itself in the college admissions cheating scandal. Director Chris Smith’s documentary “Operation Varsity Blues,” starring Matthew Modine as Rick Singer (left), is set to debut on March 17.

An examination that goes beyond the celebrity-driven headlines and dives into the methods used by Singer, the man at the center of the shocking 2019 college admissions scandal, to persuade his wealthy clients to cheat an educational system already designed to benefit the privileged, the logline reads. Using a combination of interviews and narrative recreations of the FBI’s wiretapped conversations between Singer and his clients, “Operation Varsity Blues” offers a rare glimpse into the enigmatic figure behind a scheme that exposed the lengths wealthy families would go to for admission into elite colleges, and angered a nation already grappling with the effects of widespread inequality.

Jon Karmen will executive produce “Operation Varsity Blues” alongside Smith. “Tiger King” fans may...

A new Netflix documentary will pull back the curtain on the notorious college admissions bribery scandal that ensnared Hollywood celebrities, financiers and other members of the monied elite.

“Operation Varsity Blues,” directed by Chris Smith, will debut on the streaming service on March 17, 2021. The film promises to provide a deep dive into the methods used by Rick Singer to get the children of his wealthy clients into top schools. These schemes included everything from enabling kids to cheat on their college admissions tests to falsifying sports credentials or bribing school officials.

“Desperate Housewives” star Felicity Huffman, “Full House” actress Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli and Tpg Growth founder Bill McGlashan were among Singer’s clients. When the scandal erupted in 2019, it became front page news. Not only did it involve household names, but it also illustrated the massive gap between the haves and have nots and...

Netflix has announced that Chris Smith, the director behind the popular Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened film, is turning his attentions to the college admissions scandal for his latest documentary.

Smith, who also executive produced Tiger King, will direct Operation Varsity Blues, which will premiere on March 17. Smith’s Fyre collaborator Jon Karmen is also working on the documentary.

Here’s the logline: “An examination that goes beyond the celebrity-driven headlines and dives into the methods used by Rick Singer, the man at the center of the shocking 2019 college admissions scandal, to persuade his wealthy clients to cheat an educational system already designed to benefit the privileged.

“Using an innovative combination of interviews and narrative recreations of the FBI’s wiretapped conversations between Singer and his clients, Operation Varsity Blues offers a rare glimpse into the enigmatic figure behind a scheme that exposed the lengths wealthy families would...