Maddie’s Secret Is a Brilliant Melodrama of Social Media Stardom

Maddie’s Secret Is a Brilliant Melodrama of Social Media Stardom

The alt-comedy-to-auteur-pipeline keeps pumping away: Jordan Peele, Zach Cregger, Bo Burnham, and now John Early. The 38-year-old stand-up and sketch-scene staple is familiar to millions for his handpicked cameo in Taylor Swift’s music video for “Antihero,” and is deeply beloved by fans of the pitch-black, premium-cable cult series Search Party, in which he played a callow, sociopathic influencer who faked lymphoma for clicks, among other things…

Review: Maddie’s Secret is out and it’s brilliant

I wish I’d seen John Early’s Maddie’s Secret  (Rating: ✭✭✭✭) with a large, noisy, receptive audience instead of on my computer at home.✅ = Critic’s pick / ✭✭✭✭✭ = outstanding, among best of the year / ✭✭✭✭ = excellent / ✭✭✭ = recommended / ✭✭ or ✭ = didn’t work for meThere are some scenes in the comic’s brilliant directorial debut, which he also wrote, that are so tonally complex that I need to see how they play with a crowd. I’m not just talkin…