Anna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me

The tall, busty Texas GUESS girl was the "IT GIRL". The sweet girl next door all of us in the south wanted to be. The higher the hair, the closer to god. Outspoken. Going for what she wanted. Frank about sex. Beautiful. Escaping a small town and family problems. In the 90s she was everywhere, so I guess if you didn't experience those years yourself and didn't see the effect she had back then, you're probably one of the negative reviewers. She's no different than any of the modern Instagrammers, TikTok and YouTube wannabes. She was digging for gold long before any of the Kardashians. If she were around today like she was back then, she'd be a sensation! She tried to play the system and lost. The saddest part of it all is her kids got lost, too.

I never got caught up in Anna Nicole Smith's saga during the 90's. My appreciation for her (like others) never went beyond the physical. Saw her Playboy pictorials and then much much later her two action flicks, PB videos and movie exploits made about her life. I honestly didn't expect 'You Don't Know Me' to add anything new to the tale because frankly I don't think there's any deep secrets to be told. This two hour documentary didn't change my view.

From growing up in small town Texas to her son Danny and then Howard J. Marshall onward to fame, stardom. Playboy, Guess jeans, appearances in legit movies, talk shows. Natural charm, love for the cameras, paparazzi. The reunion with her estranged father than went sideways. Prescription drugs, alcohol, a fondness for partying and the wheels slowly coming off. Howard K. Stern enters the picture, reality show, her weight gain, a new baby with it's father in doubt. Danny dies and she passes soon afterwards at only 39 years old.

Everything here is well put together and flows nicely. A lot of the details are old hat, but the narrative is decent with interviews from people who never spoke in depth about Anna or their roles in her life until now. It's a talking heads style of doc that uses footage from tv, home movies, Playboy or shot specifically for use in montages. Every topic is touched on in compact format rarely dragging on or overstaying it's welcome.

Put this Netflix doc 'You Don't Know Me' in the curiosity category that will get views from lifelong ANS fans or those who think there's deeper meaning to be found when really there isn't. Her undoing was her own. You get sprinkles of new facts, but the end result remains the same. We love our celebrities. We love underdog stories, beautiful women praising them where they're up, tuning in or kicking them when they're down.

The portrayal of Anna Nicole Smith fails to captivate. Despite a vast array of documentaries, this one adds little to her story. The film's focus on her life as a supposed gold digger and the questioning of her childhood narrative leaves viewers questioning its relevance. While it exposes inconsistencies in her past, it ultimately falls short of providing any meaningful insight or intrigue. Instead, it leaves audiences with a diminished view of her character, feeling that their time could have been better spent elsewhere. In other words This was quite boring, and if anything did nothing for her image whatsoever.

No pun intended of course - fame, many want it, few can handle it. But it's not just about that, it's personal too. I have to admit, I was unaware of quite a few things. Not just her personality (her body - well everyone knew about that), but her motivation and her private life. That includes all of her family, parents but also her son.

She was larger than life and while she made great news/ratings, her personal demons were too big. Add issues women have to deal with normally, but get bigger when in the public eye ... that includes shaming of all kinds, especially her looks (weight), but also her behavior. People should mind their own business or try to help, not further drag people down.

She seemed sweet, determined, but also gullible and naive. Add pills to an already unstable individual ... and you know it won't end well ...

Well, I don't feel like it was a waste of time to watch this documentary. I also don't think I took a single thing away from that was new.

It was very obviously done in a way that was trying to make key players look completely innocent. There's absolutely no way that some of those closest to her didn't have a hand in giving her what she wanted.

Documentary did include some footage I had never seen before. There was also some touching photos of her with her children. It's just a shame that her life turned out the way it did, and that she had no one there to guide her. She just was so unprepared to handle that level of fame.