I'm what you would call a Miss Cleo superfan. Back in grade school my friends and I used to regularly participate in all the juiciest Miss Cleo playground rumors and gossip. We also used to quote Miss Cleo's commercials all the time with our best (worst) Jamaican accents.
My friend Cory was the only one in our group brave enough to actually call Miss Cleo. He told us he got spooked and hung up because some strange man answered the phone. A few weeks later Cory told us all he made a huge mistake and his parents blew a gasket because the Miss Cleo autodialer was calling their house in full force.
So as you might guess by now, as a Miss Cleo superfan, I became absolutely elated when I first learned about the "Call Me Miss Cleo" documentary. First I had to prepare myself. I took inventory of all my otherworldly possessions: my shaman beads, voodoo doll, crystal ball, Ouija board, snake oil, rabbit's foot, and Magic 8 Ball. With my spiritual paraphernalia at the ready, I was finally set to begin "Call Me Miss Cleo".
So imagine my immeasurable disappointment with this garbage heap of a documentary. First off, most of the people interviewed are hardly even connected to Miss Cleo. Why not interview Miss Cleo's relatives or her two biological children? Why not interview any of the actual victims who felt they were scammed out of tens of thousands of dollars?
Why does the documentary contain barely any new and interesting video footage of Miss Cleo? It mostly shows her commercials that are already publicly widespread. Why not do the tiniest bit of research and include photos and videos that the general public hasn't already seen to make for a more exclusive and compelling documentary? The only neat thing the documentary uncovered is Miss Cleo's old yearbook photo, and you can tell the filmmakers were super proud of that one because they recycled it half a dozen times!
The editing is also amateur at best. There's a scene where an interviewee talks about Miss Cleo's childhood and for some reason these extraordinarily unfitting demons are shown that have no relation to anything? And why are there so many random shots of trees during transitions?
The absolute crux of the entire Miss Cleo saga is without a doubt the FTC charges against Access Resource Services and Psychic Readers Network. The victims, the lawyers, the drama -- why was this barely expanded upon? This was a landmark half BILLION dollar settlement and y'all decided to gloss over it and pad the documentary with the small and uninteresting stories nobody really cares about, whose decision was that?
Just like calling a psychic hotline, "Call Me Miss Cleo" left me with more questions than answers. This documentary had the potential to be something really entertaining and nostalgic for everyone who grew up with Miss Cleo, and instead we got a low-effort, low-budget, low-researched product. If you're wanting to learn anything about Miss Cleo, skip this documentary and just read her Wikipedia page instead. I'm rating this a 5/10 only because Miss Cleo still has a special place in my childhood heart, but I am doing so begrudgingly.
My friend Cory was the only one in our group brave enough to actually call Miss Cleo. He told us he got spooked and hung up because some strange man answered the phone. A few weeks later Cory told us all he made a huge mistake and his parents blew a gasket because the Miss Cleo autodialer was calling their house in full force.
So as you might guess by now, as a Miss Cleo superfan, I became absolutely elated when I first learned about the "Call Me Miss Cleo" documentary. First I had to prepare myself. I took inventory of all my otherworldly possessions: my shaman beads, voodoo doll, crystal ball, Ouija board, snake oil, rabbit's foot, and Magic 8 Ball. With my spiritual paraphernalia at the ready, I was finally set to begin "Call Me Miss Cleo".
So imagine my immeasurable disappointment with this garbage heap of a documentary. First off, most of the people interviewed are hardly even connected to Miss Cleo. Why not interview Miss Cleo's relatives or her two biological children? Why not interview any of the actual victims who felt they were scammed out of tens of thousands of dollars?
Why does the documentary contain barely any new and interesting video footage of Miss Cleo? It mostly shows her commercials that are already publicly widespread. Why not do the tiniest bit of research and include photos and videos that the general public hasn't already seen to make for a more exclusive and compelling documentary? The only neat thing the documentary uncovered is Miss Cleo's old yearbook photo, and you can tell the filmmakers were super proud of that one because they recycled it half a dozen times!
The editing is also amateur at best. There's a scene where an interviewee talks about Miss Cleo's childhood and for some reason these extraordinarily unfitting demons are shown that have no relation to anything? And why are there so many random shots of trees during transitions?
The absolute crux of the entire Miss Cleo saga is without a doubt the FTC charges against Access Resource Services and Psychic Readers Network. The victims, the lawyers, the drama -- why was this barely expanded upon? This was a landmark half BILLION dollar settlement and y'all decided to gloss over it and pad the documentary with the small and uninteresting stories nobody really cares about, whose decision was that?
Just like calling a psychic hotline, "Call Me Miss Cleo" left me with more questions than answers. This documentary had the potential to be something really entertaining and nostalgic for everyone who grew up with Miss Cleo, and instead we got a low-effort, low-budget, low-researched product. If you're wanting to learn anything about Miss Cleo, skip this documentary and just read her Wikipedia page instead. I'm rating this a 5/10 only because Miss Cleo still has a special place in my childhood heart, but I am doing so begrudgingly.