Renee Zellweger as a serial killer inspired by a true story: How much is The Thing About Pam worth on M6?

This Saturday 9 September at 9.10pm, M6 broadcasts the first 3 episodes of The Thing About Pam, an event mini-series with Renee Zellweger that revisits the bad but true story of Pam Happ. 2011 is the year. After an evening out with friends, Ras Faria returns home to find his wife Betsy’s lifeless body. Although he continues to maintain his innocence, he was sentenced to life in prison for the crime. Very quickly, her best friend, Pam Happ, becomes suspicious in turn…

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Renée Zellweger, who won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Judy, is the star of The Thing About Pem, in which she portrays Pam Happ, a real-life serial killer mother. For the occasion, the actress had to wear “A fat suit” (a zoom suit) and prosthetics to best suit his character.

She’s opposite Judy Greer, seen in 30 Years or Nothing and Arrested Development, and Josh Duhamel (Love, Simon, Las Vegas), who play prosecutor Leah Askey and Joel Schwartz, Russ Faria’s lawyer, respectively. The latter is also played by Glenn Fleshler (Billions). Finally, Kathy Mixon, an actress you discovered on American Housewife, plays Betsy Faria.

Is it worth checking out?

News is truly an inexhaustible source of ideas for screenwriters. After Dirty John, American Crime Story or Mindhunter to name a few, it’s Renee Zellweger’s turn to offer us The Thing About Pam.

This 6-episode mini-series, adapted from the podcast of the same name, returns to the story of Pam Happ, a greedy sociopath from the depths of the United States who, behind the appearance of an ordinary housewife, is actually manipulative and merciless. .

It’s 2011, after the Christmas holidays. After a role-playing night with friends, Russ Faria returns home to find his wife, Betsy, dead. She then calls 911, panics, and explains that she killed herself.

But very quickly, investigators discovered that he had been stabbed 55 times, making the suicide theory impossible. For the police and the district attorney, there is no doubt: the perpetrator of the murder is a Russian.

Convinced that they have caught the culprit, they ignore all the clues that differ from their version, even those that point to Pam Hupp, the last person to see him alive and the sole beneficiary of his life insurance, as the perfect suspect.

With its many twists and turns, The Thing About Pam offers a glimpse into a sometimes corrupt justice system that tries to find the perfect suspect, even if it means letting the real criminal get away.

Prosecutor Leah Ask, brilliantly played by Judy Greer, refuses to admit she was wrong about Russell Faria and doesn’t hesitate to hide evidence and play Pam to further her own ends. Moreover, this aspect of the series, which only comes in episode 2, is worth a detour because the investigation by the police seems ridiculous.

A sort of poor man’s Fargo, the series unfortunately struggles to find its footing. Where the Coen brothers’ film took an off-kilter tone, The Thing About Pam remains an overly classic destabilizing medium in which it’s never humorous or dramatic. The voiceover, à la Jane the Virgin and Desperate Housewives, doesn’t help that feeling.

Renee Zellweger, on the other hand, sounds fake as Pam. Maybe it’s his fault A fat suit and his numerous facial prostheses, which were used by makeup artists to make him look like the real hero.

An outfit that almost makes her look like it’s straight out of the movie FBI: Fake Blondes Undercover (which is obviously not a compliment). Shame on me for not using an actress who already looked like Pam, or simply choosing to use Renee Zellweger’s actual physique, hoping her talent as an actress would convince us she is Pam Happ.

In short, despite its minor flaws, The Thing About Pam is a charming mini-series that, thanks to precisely distilled cliffhangers, manages to captivate us until the last episode.