Cinema Verité was once considered cutting edge. Filming the details of a person’s life was originally a fresh idea, but that was in the Sixties and Seventies. Since then, reality teevee has eroded Cinema Verité’s street cred, grinding it down to nothing. That’s why Peacock’s Stormy comes across as an overlong episode of The Real Housewives of Wherever.

The Stormy in question is, of course, Stephanie Clifford DBA Stormy Daniels. She prefers to be called by her stage name and doesn’t shy away from her profession, so Stormy Daniels, porn star it is.

I’ve always considered the Stormy Daniels saga to be a sideshow. Stormy is a woman who got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong man. It’s only of interest because the wrong man became the 45th POTUS.

Since her story went public, Stormy has become the personification of confirmation bias. If you love Trump, you’re supposed to hate Stormy. If you hate Trump, you’re supposed to love her, but I never have. Instead, I feel sorry for her because she’s caught in a whirlwind that’s not of her own making. She’s just another victim of Trump’s mendacity and lechery.

The documentary was filmed from 2018-2023. The only drama comes from outside sources. We mostly see Stormy sitting around, lamenting her fate, and cursing those who are lying about her. That may sound like compelling television, but it is not. Stormy’s sordid story is more interesting than the woman herself.

The most interesting moments are the most jarring:

First, Daniels’ description of her sole sexual encounter with the then host of The Apprentice. It was short and brutish much like the Dipshit Insurrection. Donald Trump’s name is in the dictionary next to bad lay.

Second, I had not thought of Stormy’s former lawyer Michael Avenatti since he was malaka of the week. During the peak of the Stormy scandal, he was everywhere and gained some admirers. I was not among them. Avenatti is a con man and a shitty lawyer who robbed Daniels blind and wound up in jail as result. Stylistically, he was the Trumpiest Democrat in the country. Remember when this mook thought he could run for president? Oy just oy.

One would think that a documentary about a scandal involving a porn star and the worst president in American history would be sordidly fascinating. Instead, it’s 110 minutes that I’ll never get back. It shows the limits of Cinema Verité in a world that’s overloaded with fly on the wall depictions of everyday life.

Shorter Adrastos: Peacock’s Stormy is a snoozer. I’d rather watch Teresa Giudice fight with the other New Jersey Housewives than see Stormy Daniels on the phone with her porn actor ex-husband as her current porn actor husband observes. Stormy should really try branching out: porn actors are as boring as porn itself.

The release of Peacock’s Stormy was supposed to coincide with the Manhattan criminal case against Donald Trump finally going to trial. Instead, there’s been another delay, so all we’re left with for now is this dull documentary.

Here’s the trailer:

I believe that Stormy Daniels is telling the truth about Trump. I believe a crime was committed by the Kaiser of Chaos and his former fixer Michael Cohen. Cohen has already paid for his crime and it’s time for Trump to be held accountable. Having said that, I neither liked nor enjoyed Peacock’s Stormy. If you’re big on confirmation bias, you might enjoy it. I did not but at least I got a blog post out of it.

Grading Time: It was a long boring slog that I watched in two parts, but I’m going to be generous and give it 2 stars and an Adrastos Grade of C-.

The last word goes to The Meters: