Elizabeth Holmes founded a healthcare company that lied to its investors, endangered the lives of its patients, and attempted to ruin anyone who dared expose the truth. It's a compelling story; the challenge for the makers of 'The Dropout' was how to humanise the monstrous individuals involved? This was done to great effect in 'Succession', which made one feel a degree of sympathy for mediocre people who were little more than the sum of their pathologies. But in this, 'The Dropout' isn't quite as successful. We see Holmes as someone with big dreams who fell in with the wrong people, almost as if the truth is that "this was a very bright gal, but things got out of hand". While she is shown as being criticised for taking her inspiration from Yoda, there's a part of this screenplay which seems to empathise, to suggest that the problem was that she wasn't quite good enough to be the next Steve Jobs, instead of considering that wishing to be the next Jobs/Musk etc. For its own sake is a deeply disturbing ambition in itself. I'm not convinced this is the most insightful portrait of Holmes that could have been produced; but I'm certain it's not the most telling indictment of our society that can be inferred from her story. I recommend Jim Carreyou's book, which is more to the point.
Review of The Dropout
