‘Inventing Anna’ Review: A Compelling True Story About New York City High Life Is Ruined By Poor Writing

After striking gold with period drama “Bridgerton” in a $100+ million deal with Netflix, Shonda Rhimes’ Shondaland has debuted its latest bid for streaming success: “Inventing Anna.” Based on the too–good–to–be–true story, “Inventing Anna” draws inspiration from the work of journalist Jessica Pressler, whose article “Maybe She Had So Much Money She Just Lost Track of It” chronicled the exploits of Anna Delvey, a young Russian woman who successfully posed as a German heiress, conning New York’s elite out of thousands of dollars worth of clothes, shoes, vacations, and private jets. After nearly conning some of the city’s largest banks into a $20 million loan, Delvey was caught – and “Inventing Anna”, starring Julia Garner as Delvey, picks up in the wake of her arrest, following journalist Vivian Kent (the series’ Pressler stand-in, played by Anna Chlumsky) as she attempts to piece together the true story from Anna and the unassuming socialities she scammed. 

There’s no doubt about it: Anna Delvey’s utterly unbelievable story is a near-perfect candidate for adaption as a limited series. With an enigmatic leading lady, a juicy crime-filled narrative, and more luxury and opulence than you’ll find at Bergdorf’s, it has all the makings of becoming an intoxicating mix of “Gossip Girl” meets “Breaking Bad.” Unfortunately for “Inventing Anna,” though, the series is fundamentally unable to do justice to such a grand slam of a true story. While it may tell Anna’s story, it does so in the most basic, bare-bones manner, devoid of any real personality, fire, or even genuinely compelling characters – thanks mostly in part to the show’s (sometimes painfully) lackluster scripts.

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The writing in “Inventing Anna” feels (ironically) pedestrian – the type of fare one might expect from a middling network workplace comedy and not a glossy Netflix series with a big-name executive producer and an Emmy award-winning lead. Yet, the plot moves sluggishly (struggling to fill the hour-long episodes, in which you can feel every minute tick by) and halts to a near grinding stop after Vivian’s article is published at the beginning of episode seven – leaving for a strange ‘what now?’ limbo until the series makes up its mind as to how it was to draft its last act. The dialogue doesn’t help things either – in a series hinged on Delvey’s ability to near–flawless ingratiate herself into New York high society, the dialogue feels like an older writer’s assumption of how millennials talk – struggling to grasp the cadence or even proper namedrops that shows like “Gossip Girl” so effortlessly nail in their depictions of the New York elite. 

Where the writing fails, the show’s (sizable) ensemble cast makes a valiant attempt to pick up the slack – but poor dialogue can only be elevated so far, and the fact of the matter is that the cast of “Inventing Anna” isn’t quite good enough to sell the frustrating scripts. As Vivian Kent, Chlumsky is harried and high-strung: with her constantly bulging eyes, she continues to push back against sources, editors, and even her loved ones – unable to simply slow down and let the story fall to the wayside for even a second. It’s the standard, run-of-the-mill “writer can’t stop until they finish their story” schtick, with the added twist being that Vivian is heavily pregnant through the entire ordeal – providing for a ticking clock as she races against the baby to get the story done.

However, try as the series (and Chlumsky) might to get us to care about Vivian, she’s fundamentally difficult to root for – not particularly likable in terms of personality, and bearing the standard lack of integrity all journalists as depicted by Hollywood seem to boast. Though a mysterious failed story in her past haunts Vivian, the ultimate reveal is never properly cashed in enough for emotional impact, and Chlumsky doesn’t bring much to the role besides an ability to deliver quippy, fast-paced dialogue, which was better showcased on “Veep.”

Opposite Chlumsky’s Vivian is the titular Anna Delvey, played by a bespectacled and wig-clad Julia Garner – who most audiences will recognize as “Ozark’s” fiery Ruth Langmore, a role for which Garner nabbed a couple of Emmy wins. Though there’s no question as to whether or not Garner is a talented actress, it becomes clear rather quickly that this is just a case of a stellar performer being woefully miscast – try as she might to bring depth to the character, it’s nearly impossible to suspend disbelief and imagine a world in which anyone would be fooled by Delvey, her choppy, judgemental dialogue, and that cartoonish straight out of a “Saturday Night Live” sketch.

It’s through no fault of Garner’s own that Anna fails as a character – between the noticeable wigs, the aforementioned accent (which, whether or not it’s based on reality, never stops being distractingly outlandish), and her utter lack of chemistry with the rest of the cast, she simply does not come off as a woman who would be able to swindle her way into New York high society. The few cast members who do shine, though, are the ensemble of New Yorkers with whom Anna was able to ingratiate herself – standouts include Laverne Cox as life coach/fitness guru Kacy, Katie Lowes as ditsy Vanity Fair writer Rachel, and Kate Burton as wealthy matriarch Nora. 

All three ladies, unlike Garner, fit seamlessly into the picture of New York high life – striking the right balance of suspicious yet blissfully ignorant and trusting at all the right moments – ready to take advantage of and distrust Anna until they suit her needs. Cox, in particular, is a bright spot – as Kacy, she’s the most level–headed and down-to-earth of Anna’s ex-friends, and one of the few characters willing to give a much–needed reality check to the rest of the cast – telling them exactly what the audiences is thinking. Rounding out the ensemble is the show’s other scene-stealer, Arian Moayed as Anna’s lawyer Todd – who (remarkably) is without question the most charming, well-developed, and easy to root for character of the bunch, thanks almost entirely to Moayed’s performance.

Though the series does eventually manage to level out and find its footing (reaching its peak in a tension-filled episode six trip to Morocco), the first two episodes of “Inventing Anna” are far too shaky in all the wrong places – establishing ludicrous characters, suffering from astoundingly bad dialogue, and fundamentally misunderstanding what elements were needed to help sell both its leading lady and the identity of the show as a whole. While it may make for serviceable background noise if there’s nothing else on, “Inventing Anna” is painfully lacking in self–awareness: a con that savvy viewers would be smart to skip. [D+]

“Inventing Anna” debuts on Netflix on February 11.