Stream It Or Skip It: ‘15 Minutes of Shame’ on HBO Max, Monica Lewinsky’s Thoughtful Documentary Tackling ‘Cancel Culture’ and the Dark Side of Social Media

15 Minutes of Shame is another HBO Max documentary addressing pervasive social, cultural and/or political issues — in this case, public shaming and “cancel culture.” The film is produced by Monica Lewinsky, who in the opening moments declares herself “patient zero” for someone whose life was ruined by the internet; she’s joined by another expert on the subject, Max Joseph, co-creator of MTV’s Catfish. They both narrate this exploration of one of the 21st century’s most pervasive problems, falling in line with Lewinsky’s current status as an activist against cyberbullying.

15 MINUTES OF SHAME: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: You probably know Lewinsky’s story. Do we need to reiterate it? Not if you were alive and even peripherally aware of current events. But the context is crucial: She had “intimate sexual relations” with then-President Bill Clinton, which she frankly describes as a mistake and a “secret,” which became so pervasively public, it ruined her reputation and dignity and “almost (her) life.” She was the butt of brutal late-night talk show hosts, and the cruelty continued on the internet, which was in its infancy. As we see the infamous “shame” scene from Game of Thrones, Lewinsky talks about how she connected with Joseph to make a documentary about the age-old phenomena of public shaming.

Before 15 Minutes of Shame becomes too much of a self-aware, so-we-made-this-documentary documentary, it shifts to others’ voices — expert interviewees and people sharing their stories. We get a brief history of tarring and feathering, the pillory and tabloids. We also meet Matt Colvin, who you probably know as “the hand sanitizer guy.” Maybe you read that New York Times piece about him early in the pandemic, detailing how he hoarded the product, hoping to turn it around for a profit, and if you did, you probably thought he was a price-gouging jerk.

Well, one talking head points out how such judgments aren’t so easy to make when you’re looking at someone’s face. And there’s Matt’s face, explaining how he used to be in the military, and did tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and suffers mental and physical issues as a result, which makes it difficult for him to retain a regular job, so he works for himself, usually buying things at a discount and reselling them for a modest profit on Amazon’s third-party platform. Matt claims the reporter didn’t accurately represent the angle of the story, which maybe explains why he’d agree to be interviewed for an article that basically paints him as a villain. The guy screwed up. Do we feel bad for Matt, now that we’ve heard his story in his own words and know more about his life than was in the Times, where the second-hand depiction of his character rendered him an abstraction? He got death threats after the article ran. He’s been banned as a seller on several major internet platforms, hampering his ability to feed his family. Does he deserve that?

We also get more nuanced and detailed stories of people who were harmed as a result of viral social media posts: One man who was photographed allegedly making a white-power gesture with his hand next to his employer’s logo, and he was fired. A woman fired off a couple of ill-considered Facebook comments and ended up targeted by Sean Hannity. A Black college student was targeted by a white supremacist’s online “troll army,” and brought the creep to court. The film applies some science and logical commentary to the culture war, digging into larger ideas like schadenfreude and how social media algorithms derive profit from divisiveness and out-of-control politicization. One thing I walked away from the movie thinking? NEVER TWEET.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: HBO’s in-house documentaries tend to feature slick production values and lively editing in order to make difficult subject matter go down smooth. 15 Minutes of Shame is right in line with After Truth, Showbiz Kids, At the Heart of Gold and countless other nonfiction films on their roster.

Performance Worth Watching: Writer Roxane Gay and journalist Kara Swisher offer some smart, unvarnished commentary here.

Memorable Dialogue: Gay gets to the core problem: “I think social media is a good idea, but people ruin everything.”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Lewinsky and Joseph have assembled a potent examination of the power dynamics on social media, stirring up thoughtful subtext about retribution, rehabilitation and mental illness. The film juxtaposes the idea of “cancel culture” with “consequence culture,” and manages to turn up a few white-tiger participants: people who are willing to admit they aren’t always right. One interviewee quips, “We are operating on our lowest level as a culture right now,” and there’s not much of an argument to make against that — but the film ultimately doesn’t find traction in hopelessness. It doesn’t offer any pat solutions to a significant societal ill, which is wise; rather, by illustrating the hows and whys of the problem, it’s using journalistic muscle to quietly assert the need for change.

Although 15 Minutes of Shame feels slightly unfocused — big topic to cover in 90 minutes — it’s tightly constructed, occasionally funny (you have to be, lest you risk needless doomsaying), and nuanced without going too deep down rabbit holes. The interviewees are thoughtful, educated, and diverse. It smartly avoids overt manipulation; if our instinct is to feel sorry for the hand sanitizer guy, remember, the film isn’t passing judgement, but rather, telling us key components of his story that we don’t get from a New York Times piece that wasn’t overtly malevolent, but became a weapon on social media. (How’d I find out about the story when it was published? Twitter.) Lewinsky and Joseph lend a lightly sympathetic ear to their profile segments, but for the most part take a logical approach to stories that could stir up significant emotion — and the work is all the stronger for it.

Our Call: STREAM IT. 15 Minutes of Shame is a typically insightful doc worthy of the HBO brand.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Stream 15 Minutes of Shame on HBO Max