I recently watched the 2021 film “Aileen Wuornos: American Boogeywoman” and I have a lot of mixed opinions on it. The movie is centered around the earlier life of Wuornos, before her serial killings. The main focus is her marriage to Lewis Fell before they divorced the same year they married.

The actress who starred in the movie and played the younger Wuornos was Peyton List, which begins my first issue with the film. Although I do think Peyton List did a fantastic job depicting her, I’m not certain how I feel about painting her as this femme fatale who was so beautiful. The real Wuornos was an extremely violent and hostile woman, which they did convey, however it almost seemed as though they wanted to make her attractive and almost seductive when she was quite the opposite, and such a vile person. People often like to excuse or defend Wuornos because of her tragic past and her side of the story, but that is an explanation, not an excuse. She was a serial killer, and should never be idolized nor pitied. You can feel sorry about her past, but don’t defend her actions.

Another flaw I found within the movie is that the majority of the plot wasn’t true to her real life, despite being labeled a documentary. The only truth in it was the fact that Wuornos was married to a much older man named Lewis Fell, and the marriage went sour and ended after she beat him with his own cane. The rest of the film is dramatized and made up to be entertaining and like a drama, which is odd to me since it’s supposed to be a documentary.

Overall, the movie felt as though it didn’t want to tell the real story, but instead dramatize and twist it for entertainment purposes, even though there were some sufficient scenes/moments. Rating: 2/5 stars.