Kaitlyn Dever makes a character's need to be believed feel immediate and recognisable. We rate her attention to ordinary behaviour, especially when, as in Apple Cider Vinegar, it makes someone dishonest harder to dismiss.
Fi1m perspective
Kaitlyn Dever's Belle Gibson works hard to be liked. In Apple Cider Vinegar (2025), her public eagerness has a private coldness behind it, and Dever lets the two sit uncomfortably close together. The charm is convincing enough to explain why people listen. It is strong work in an uneven series, and the clearest reason to watch.
That attention to people who might otherwise be dismissed runs through her work. Short Term 12 (2013) gave her an early breakthrough as the troubled teenager Jayden Cole; the leading roles in Booksmart (2019) and Unbelievable (2019) marked a turn towards carrying the story herself. The former also matters because her comic timing can get overlooked beside the heavier material. With Dopesick (2021), the pattern of demanding dramatic roles continued, but it would be a waste to treat seriousness as the only thing she has to offer.
Belle puts that ability to suggest vulnerability to a nastier use. Dever makes the effort behind her warmth visible without making the warmth implausible, so we can understand why someone would trust her. We were angrier than we expected to be at Apple Cider Vinegar, because that eagerness to please makes the deception feel so credible. Playing her as an obvious fraud from the outset would have been easier, and much less useful.
The programme does not always give the performance enough room. Writers Samantha Strauss, Angela Betzien and Anya Beyersdorf treat the people who believe reassuring claims with care, while Alycia Debnam-Carey's Milla Blake gives Dever a strong counterpart. Yet the six-episode series keeps shifting its attention and approach before those people have had enough time to register. Dever is worth watching through the interruptions, but the telling needs to settle down.
For a way into her work, Apple Cider Vinegar is a sound choice, provided a strong central performance is enough to keep a restless series watchable. We would also like more space for the comic timing apparent in Booksmart. There is no need for every worthwhile part to put her through another ordeal.
Biography
Kaitlyn Dever is an American actress. Born in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1996, she began her career with roles in the television series The Mentalist (2008) and Modern Family (2009), and the film Bad Teacher (2011).
She is known for her performances in the series Justified (2011–2015), Last Man Standing (2011–2021), Unbelievable (2019) and Dopesick (2021), the last of which earned her Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Her film credits include The Spectacular Now (2013), Short Term 12 (2013), Detroit (2017), Beautiful Boy (2018), Booksmart (2019), Dear Evan Hansen (2021), Ticket to Paradise (2022), Rosaline (2022) and No One Will Save You (2023). She played Abby Anderson in The Last of Us (2023) and Belle Gibson in the series Apple Cider Vinegar (2025).
Dever also performs music as one half of the duo Devers, formerly known as Beulahbelle, with her sister.
