The Reel Review
Disgraced actor Armie Hammer (Call Me By Your Name, The Social Network) and the incredibly wealthy and powerful men of his family are the focus of this three-episode docuseries that addresses his dysfunctional family’s sordid past. The list of wild accusations against the Hammer men is extensive – sexual depravity, corruption, bribery, blackmail, incest, Soviet government-era espionage and even murder.
The miniseries starts with Armie’s own explosive sexual misdeeds, brought to light by ex-girlfriend Courtney Vucekovich in 2021 with accusations of psychological and physical torture that included Hammer biting her and being obsessed with cannibalism. Throughout the series she and other accusers share eerily similar text messages, Instagram posts and personal experiences that they say illustrate a recurring pattern of abuse, one even accusing him of raping her for four hours in 2017. (Last month, the Los Angeles County D.A.’s office opted not to move forward with sexual assault charges after a two-year investigation.) In the latter two episodes, we hear from Hammer’s estranged aunt Casey Hammer, who shares horrifying stories of her life within the Hammer family, where she says the men behaved with no impunity, hosting drug-fueled sex parties with underage girls, setting a pattern of extreme toxic masculinity for Armie at a very early age.
While the salacious docuseries does spill all the tea about the lurid sex scandal and paints a pretty awful portrait of the Hammer family, it doesn’t really tell us much that is new – other than to drive home the point that the super-rich seemingly can get away with almost anything and claims that Armie Hammer did not adhere to BDSM rules of consent. The series’ reliance on Tik-Tok stars (who admittedly are largely responsible for this story getting the traction it has) diminishes from the seriousness of the subject matter. But it is an interesting juxtaposition of old money being taken down by new social media.
REEL FACTS
• Armie Hammer and Elizabeth Chambers on Tuesday reached a settlement in their divorce, nearly three years after she filed to end their marriage. No word yet on custody of their two children, child support, spousal support and division of assets.
• Armie Hammer, 36, reportedly is broke, cut off from his father, and as of a year ago was selling timeshares at Morritt’s Resorts in the Cayman Islands, presumably to help support himself, Chambers and their two children who live with her on Grand Cayman.
• Divorce proceedings began in July 2020, shortly after Hammer fled their COVID quarantine in the Cayman Islands for Los Angeles and accidentally texted her a message meant for an Adeline, the same name his co-star Lily James reportedly had used on set during filming of their romantic thriller Rebecca a few months prior. The two reportedly had flirted heavily during filming.
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