--- title: "Dopesick: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/dopesick/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/tv/dopesick" critics_score: 66 critics_reviews: 10 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Dopesick (2021): what the critics said Critics' score 66 from 10 reviews: 7 positive, 2 mixed, 1 negative. Most critics take Dopesick seriously as an angry, clear account of how Purdue Pharma pushed OxyContin and what it did to the people who took it. The praise gathers around the human stories rather than the corporate ones, and around Michael Keaton’s performance as a doctor drawn into addiction, which several reviews single out. Even those who like it least concede it is passionate and often affecting, and nobody doubts the case it makes against corporate greed and the regulators who let it happen. The reservations are almost all about structure. Review after review says the series tries to carry too many threads across too many years, and that the time-hopping blunts the momentum the individual stories build. The spread is wide: Paste rates it highly for its accuracy and ensemble, while IndieWire thinks a dense, dour eight-part series is the wrong shape for the material, and The Hollywood Reporter finds some performances flat or melodramatic. ## Empire — Boyd Hilton Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 2 November 2021. The series offers a mostly sober, compelling and clear dramatisation of one of the most shameful examples of big pharma wrongdoing in recent history, which will have you recoiling in fury. It interweaves real-life investigators and fictional characters in a fractured but effective timeline that highlights corporate greed and its human cost. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/tv/reviews/dopesick/) ## The Telegraph Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 12 November 2021. The critic praises the effective telling of the Big Pharma scandal through individual human stories and calls out the repugnant corporate malignancy while noting the challenge of keeping the complex story moving. [Read the review](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2021/11/12/dopesick-review-stench-corruption-rife-effective-telling-americas/) ## The Times — Hugo Rifkind Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 12 November 2021. The critic views it as a box-set study showing the opioid crisis as caused by 'America generally', praising how well it charts the boom in abuse amid systemic issues. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/dopesick-close-to-me-the-tower-succession-review-j0fbz0fsb) ## The AV Club — Danette Chavez Rating B-. 18 October 2021. The series has admirable intentions in shedding light on the opioid crisis but borders on cumbersome due to its reluctance to short-shrift any narratives and its disorienting nonlinear structure spanning too much ground. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/the-admirable-and-belabored-dopesick-tracks-the-start-o-1847858900) ## The Guardian Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 12 November 2021. The critic finds it a powerful illustration of corporate greed and suffering but notes the series tries to tackle too much, resulting in a chaotic structure that dissipates narrative momentum. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/nov/12/dopesick-review-the-heinous-truth-behind-americas-opioid-emergency) ## Vulture Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 14 October 2021. The ambitious scope of the series dulls its impact despite often moving results from individual storylines, particularly those involving Michael Keaton and Kaitlyn Dever; its vastness becomes an Achilles’ heel through time-hopping and too many threads. [Read the review](https://www.vulture.com/article/dopesick-review-hulu-series.html) ## Evening Standard Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 11 November 2021. The critic finds it hard-hitting and angry when exploring the human cost but frustratingly muddled and heavy-handed elsewhere due to its ambitious, sprawling approach. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/tvfilm/dopesick-tv-show-review-disney-plus-michael-keaton-kaitlyn-dever-will-poulter-b963662.html) ## The Hollywood Reporter — Daniel Fienberg Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 6 October 2021. An important topic is marred by questionable storytelling choices and performances in this muddled telling of an urgent story. While some fictional characters and performances land effectively, the overall structure and many elements feel flat or melodramatic. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/dopesick-review-1235023711/) ## IndieWire — Ben Travers Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 13 October 2021. The sprawling eight-episode series is passionate and affecting in its examination of the opioid crisis but feels housed in the wrong package as a dense, dour limited series. [Read the review](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/shows/dopesick-review-hulu-michael-keaton-series-1234671254/) ## Paste — Allison Keene Rating 8.4/10. 6 October 2021. The series chronicles the opioid epidemic through multiple perspectives on Purdue Pharma's OxyContin push, delivering a heavy but accurate indictment of corporate greed and regulatory failure. Keaton's haunted performance as the addicted doctor and strong ensemble work stand out amid the grim storytelling. [Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/dopesick/dopesick-review) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/tv/dopesick.md