My Friend Dahmer (RR) (2017)

Director: Marc Meyers
Writer/s: Marc Meyers, John Backderf
Starring: Ross Lynch, Alex Wolff, Anne Heche, Dallas Roberts, Liam Koeth, and more.

My Friend Dahmer

Requested Review from Abby McNatt!

The Intro:
Ahhhh, serial killer movies. The people LOVE them! Well I was requested to take on the 2017 serial killer biography on Jeffrey Dahmer, “My Friend Dahmer.” Personally, I do not feel like there is much else to say. What you read is what you get. Time to deep dive into the Oberrating.

IMDB Summary:
“A young Jeffrey Dahmer struggles to belong in high school.”

The Oberrating:
Well that summary was pretty basic, but that is the boiled down fact of the film. “My Friend Dahmer” is an interesting take on what could be called the coming-of-age movie for Jeffrey Dahmer. The film explores the life of Dahmer as he was growing up before his serial killer days; his family life, his school life, and his personal troubles.
As always, it is interesting to see the whys and hows of what made a serial killer tick. Through “My Friend Dahmer”, we see the sad circumstances that pushed an unstable mind over the top.

I was told ahead of time how well Ross Lynch does as Dahmer, and he sure was great. He was disturbing and uncomfortable to watch. Lynch has not had much of a career beyond Disney besides this film and the Netflix Sabrina series. So I hope to see some more work come from him because this role surely proves his range beyond Disney material.

“My Friend Dahmer” presents a strong performance from Lynch and most of the supporting cast, as well as a convincing story of the pre-serial killer days. However, I feel like the film tries to mash too much together and does not allow much to really stick with the viewers.

The Wrap-Up:
For all the serial killer documentary fans out there, this has either been watched by you already, or it has somehow missed your radar. Regardless, this is definitely a film worth your time to see an interesting telling of Jeffrey Dahmer before his killing days. As for it being a quality film as a whole, it surely is lacking, but it was still worth the watch!

Rating: 3/5