So I finished watching WeCrashed today, which is the dramatized reenactment of the whole WeWork fiasco, and to get this out of the way early: It was a pretty good show. 9/10
I am biased because I love Anne Hathaway, I think she's wildly underrated by a lot of people. Jared Leto is an enigma of a human being. I am under the impression he is kind of a piece of shit IRL, and I don't entirely disagree. My one and only personal experience impression is the one time my parents took me to Vegas to go see a 30 Seconds to Mars concert, and I kid you not, but this mother fucker showed up sick and basically had the audience sing 90% of the maybe like 5-6 songs he actually performed. Would've ruined the night if it weren't for that also coincidentally being my first Panic! At The Disco concert who opened for him. Went there to see 30 Seconds to Mars, left seeing Panic! At The Disco and wasn't too disappointed, granted I was maybe 14-15 at the time I think, I don't know. Time is an illusion.
Anyways, despite all of that, I shit you not but I think this role was kind of made for him. I've heard Jared Leto has started an actual cult IRL, and from what the show told me about Adam Neumann, he's the type of guy who would probably create a cult himself. And to be honest, he kind of did if the show is to be believed. The entire time I'm watching the show, this man is spinning bullshit like it's golden thread and I kept waiting for the acknowledgement of that; I kept waiting for the behind closed doors scene where he tells his wife, Rebekah (Anne Hathaway), that he's fooled some more cash cows into giving him a shit ton of milk but it never happens and that's because I think this man legitimately believed in every fucking word he said.
The analogy they use in the show is that he's selling people unicorns when unicorns don't even exist, but this man legitimately believes unicorns fucking exist and he's going to make you believe it too. He's simultaneously full of shit, but not at the same time. It was so wild to watch because I just couldn't wrap my head around it. You hear about cult leaders, or shitty CEOs raking in billions of dollars, and you just keep waiting for the other shoe to drop; you keep waiting for the realization that he's actually just this huge piece of shit scamming people out of their money. But I don't know that I feel comfortable calling it a scam when he truly, honestly, and genuinely believes in the bullshit he is selling. It wasn't a bid for money, or power, or control. This man just bought into his own bullshit the same way he sold it to everyone else. He was a drug dealer who partook in his own supply.
The whole time I watched the show, I asked myself if the show was funded in any way by the Neumann's because of just how good it showed them to be. Yes, they were insane. Yes, they wound up financially ruining a lot of people. But at no point did I ever think that was genuinely intentional. If it wasn't obvious already, I went into this show with zero knowledge of WeWork. Literally none. I had only just heard of its existence recently, and I'm actually kind of dumbfounded that a scandal of this magnitude has somehow completely escaped my notice. It took me until I believe episode four before I even understood what it was WeWork even sold. To be honest with you, I'm still not even sure I'm sure what they sold. From my perspective, they sound like glorified landlords but for office jobs, mainly tech companies.
I pride myself on not being as influenced by individuals as others are. I don't do the whole "so-and-so is my hero" nonsense. But I have to admit that if I had met Adam Neumann in person, and he was even half as magnetic as he is portrayed in the show, I'm not entirely sure I wouldn't also be drawn to him. I don't know, man. It's to the point where at the end of the show, when he eventually steps down as CEO and the new CEO is giving his speech, I had this gut feeling of "the bad guys won in the end", even if the "bad guy" in this scenario was the completely rational business expert who actually wanted the company to make a profit. The show sold me the idea that the Neumann's, while fucking insane, were the good guys in this scenario. Which is why I can't help but wonder if this show was somehow funded by them.
Overall, the show was really good. I will say, there was this slight disconnect at the very end though. During the credits, they show a clip from an interview with the real Adam Neumann and Rebekah, and for the most part he seems like a totally normal dude. He's portrayed as kind of manic and psychotic during the show, so it was a major contrast to see him be kind of normal, albeit very passionate in the end.
If there's one type of media drama that I fucking love more, it's all this corporate drama nonsense. It's why Social Network is one of my favorite movies. I just love hearing about the behind the scenes drama of all of these big companies.
TL;DR: I felt so bad for Miguel, the true MVP of WeWork. Fuck me did that man need to grow a spine, but nevertheless I felt bad for him but respected his loyalty to the end all the same.