PLOT: The true story of WeWork founder Adam Neumann (Jared Leto) and his spouse Rebekah (Anne Hathaway), whose rise and fall briefly made their firm notorious.
REVIEW: I need to admit to being considerably unfamiliar with the entire WeWork saga. I suppose a part of it’s that I’ve all the time both labored in a set workplace or at house, so the thought of shared workspace rented out on short-term leases all the time appeared international to me, though I suppose it’s a adequate concept. After all, the corporate itself did properly at first and has survived its founder’s explosive rise and fall (I drive previous a WeWork workplace day by day right here in Montreal – the corporate is alive and properly).
WeCrashed is one other in a rising wave of reveals and films profiling the customarily explosive founders of Start-Ups, with Super Pumped, concerning the rise and fall of Uber’s CEO, beating this one to the air by a couple of weeks. These tales are very evocative of our time, with fortunes that may be made and unmade in a short time. One day somebody will be on prime in just about any occupation; the following, they are often so down-and-out that it’s unlikely they’ll ever recuperate
WeCrashed profiles Adam Neumann and his spouse Rebekah, who constructed WeWork into an organization that was so big it was primed to enter into many different spheres, together with training, with Rebekah herself the face of WeDevelop. What went flawed? The rise and fall of the founders are examined right here in a surprisingly empathetic means, not less than within the first few episodes that I’ve seen, with it set to bow in weekly instalments after the primary three episodes drop on March 18th.
Neumann is a vibrant character that matches star Jared Leto like a glove. A bigger-than-life persona, Neumann is proven to be a charismatic, enticing Israeli whose ambitions, initially, outweigh his business-savvy. We first meet him making an attempt to hawk a communal residing concept in New York as a solution to offset hire, however he’s scoffed at by the grad college students he presents the thought to, as nobody desires to stay in a dorm. Yet, there’s a germ of a good suggestion there, and Neumann is ready to parlay it into a piece expertise, with him in a position to lure traders due to his pitch, virtually effortlessly. It’s concerning the individuals he says again and again, telling one potential tenant, “I need you to fulfill your spouse right here.” For individuals that always work alone in distant jobs (one thing many people do post-COVID), the thought of socializing at work is a pretty one, and the WeWork workplaces are proven to be lovely.
Leto, who adopts a faux nostril for the position that’s much more delicate than the prosthetics in House of Gucci, has the appeal to make Neumann a pretty character. Anne Hathaway’s Rebekah is extra cynical, along with her initially considering he’s a clown regardless of him pursuing her. She’s rapidly received over when he realizes she’s being exploited by the top of a Yoga studio she works at, and he places him in his place. He stands up for her, and he or she turns into each a convert and his most outstanding champion. Interestingly, Rebekah, in actual life, is Gwyneth Paltrow’s cousin, and the second episode partially focuses on her efforts to develop into a noteworthy actress in her personal proper, along with her at one level trying up Paltrow’s Country Strong on IMDB with envy. Even at her wedding ceremony, she’s overshadowed by Paltrow, with all the visitors desirous to know if “Gwyneth is coming.”
The present begins with Neumann being pressured to resign from WeWork due to the board of administrators (with the nice Anthony Edwards within the position). He’s bowled over, however Rebekah received’t let him wallow, telling him to cease pouting and prepare for a combat. Both Adam and Rebekah, whereas architects of their very own demise, have enticing qualities, and WeCrashed doesn’t make enjoyable of them an excessive amount of (though Neumann’s love of the track “Roar” by Katy Perry and an oddball appearing “selection” made by Rebekah in episode two may have of us guffaw). On the opposite, it empathizes with them to a point, with showrunners Lee Eisenberg (of The Office) and Drew Crevello clearly not intending this to be a success piece.
Hathaway and Leto are nice within the leads, and the truth that a restricted streaming collection can rating two huge A-listers like them proves how far the shape has come. At one level, I’m positive WeCrashed would have been a film, however the streaming restricted collection noe appears to be the default solution to inform these grown-up tales, and the shape works properly right here. They’re supported by Kyle Marvin, of the underrated indie The Climb, as co-founder Miguel McKelvey, who’s proven to be the man who places within the precise hands-on work whereas Adam is extra of a “individuals individual”. America Ferrera enters the collection as a brand new accomplice for the corporate somewhat later however is absent for the primary two episodes, which give attention to the agency’s rising pains and preliminary launch.
Overall, WeCrashed is a classy, sensible telling of a narrative that’s very a lot of our time. Companies like WeWork and their founders will proceed to rise and fall, and that is an clever however empathetic look into how these items typically go awry. It’s good leisure, and a simple collection to binge on.
8
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