The Assassination of Gianni Versace demonstrates why some celebrity-related crimes acquire lasting notoriety while others just fade away

The Washington Post

“The brilliance of The People v. O.J. Simpson was how it made a widely famous and well-raked case seem entirely new,” says Hank Stuever. “The failure of Versace is that it takes a case that is at best vaguely remembered (mostly by fashionistas and gay men) and tries to apply to it the same degree of resonance and insight. Alas, the themes that so easily presented themselves for fresh scrutiny in People vs. O.J. (systemic racism and sexism, media manipulation, elusive justice) are far from evident in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: Is it about beauty? Is it about psychosis? Is it about gay rights? Yes to all that, but never effectively.”

ALSO:

• Compared to the “fun” People v. O.J. Simpson, The Assassination of Gianni Versace is sickening and sweaty
• It’s surprisingly flat: The labored timeline is not helped by the equally labored dialogue
• The Assassination of Gianni Versace is disturbing, excellent and necessary
• It is a worthy successor to The People v. O.J. Simpson, especially with Darren Criss’ career-making performance
• Versace’s weakness is that Andrew Cunanan’s life was not compelling enough to devote nine hours
• The Versace family’s main point of contention is that Gianni Versace is portrayed as being HIV positive
• How American Crime Story stars compare to their real-life counterparts
• Ryan Murphy explains why the story is told backwards
• Versace costume designer: We weren’t allowed to contact Versace, so we had to find vintage Versace
• Both Darren Criss and Andrew Cunanan are half-Filipino California natives, and Criss says “we both revel in being different”