The Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson 2020 * * 1/2 Stars

Director: Daniel Ferrands
Year: 2020
Rated R
Rating: * * 1/2 Stars
Cast: Mena Suvari, Nick Stahl, Agnes Bruckner

"I've made a terrible mistake". So did NFL football legend O. J. Simpson. Or did he? That question and some others get thinly dissected in 2020's accurately locale-d, The Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson.

Now is "Nicole Brown" the equivalent of a R-rated, late night cable movie? At times, it kind of feels like it. Does that mean it's not worth checking out at least once? No, not at all.

Anyway, "Nicole Brown" is told in short timelines and gets decent performances despite a little miscasting (Mena Suvari as Nicole Brown Simpson, Nick Stahl, Agnes Bruckner). For reasons brought up over 25 years later, the film is about the possible, alternate telling of Nicole Brown Simpson's untimely death circa June of 1994.

According to "Nicole Brown", O. J. might not have done it. It could have been real-life serial killer Glen Edward Rogers. My question is where was the Kato Kaelin character in this flick? I mean wasn't he a darn witness?

Full of tension, paranoia, campy remnants, and a loathly final bloodshed scene (set to some melodic piano music), The Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson is quite effective until it drags its final conclusion over a salient collage of archive footage. It almost feels like a band-aid for the movie's unbelievably short running time of 82 minutes.

Bottom line: The Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson does for the O. J. Simpson murder case what the Charles Manson murders did for last year's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It's a possible fiction fabrication, a possible siding for O. J. (for the record, I believe "the Juice" had some involvement), and something only ready-made Tinseltown could come up with. Hey, I'm telling it straight. "Nicole Brown" is not as bad as some IMDb viewers have made it out to be. Look for multiple, white Ford Bronco cameos (it's an indelible image). Rating: 2 and a half stars.

Written by Jesse Burleson