X
  • 2020
  • TV-MA
  • Home Box Office (HBO)
  • 1 h 59 m
  • 2020
  • TV-MA
  • Home Box Office (HBO)
  • 1 h 59 m

Summary Crazy, Not Insane follows Dr. Dorothy Otnow Lewis, a psychiatrist who has dedicated her career to studying murderers and seeking answers as to why people kill. The film explores her lifelong attempts to look beyond the grisly details of homicides and into the hearts and minds of the killers themselves.

Directed By: Alex Gibney

Written By: Alex Gibney

  • 2020
  • TV-MA
  • Home Box Office (HBO)
  • 1 h 59 m
  • 2020
  • TV-MA
  • Home Box Office (HBO)
  • 1 h 59 m

Crazy, Not Insane

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 7 Critic Reviews
78
User Score Generally Favorable Based on 5 User Ratings
6.2
My Score
Hover and click to give a rating Saved

Where to Watch

Summary Crazy, Not Insane follows Dr. Dorothy Otnow Lewis, a psychiatrist who has dedicated her career to studying murderers and seeking answers as to why people kill. The film explores her lifelong attempts to look beyond the grisly details of homicides and into the hearts and minds of the killers themselves.

Directed By: Alex Gibney

Written By: Alex Gibney

Where to Watch

Top Cast

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Dorothy Otnow Lewis

Self - Clinical Psychiatrist

Catherine Yeager

Self - Clinical Psychologist

Richard Burr

Self - Defense Attorney

Park Dietz

Self - Forensic Psychiatrist

Tom Brokaw

Self - Host, NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw

Bill Clinton

Self - Governor of Arkansas

Thomas Coccuzzi

Self - Defense Attorney for Arthur Shawcross

Laura Dern

Self - Literary Voice of Dorothy Lewis

Walt Disney

Self - Animator, Entrepreneur

William Elledge

Self - Convicted Murderer

Henry Ford

Self - Industrialist & Antisemite

Joseph Paul Franklin

Self - Convicted Murderer & Neo-Nazi Terrorist

Alex Gibney

Self - Filmmaker

Charles Gibson

Self - ABC News Anchor

Joseph Goebbels

Self - Reich Minister of Propaganda, 1933 - 1945

Hermann Göring

Self - President of the Reichstag, 1932 - 1945

Adolf Hitler

Self - Führer and Chancellor of Germany

Joseph P. Kennedy

Self - Kennedy Family Patriarch & Antisemite

Nollie Martin

Self - Convicted Murderer

Marie Moore

Self - Convicted Murderer

View All Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 7 Critic Reviews
78
100% Positive
7 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 7 Critic Reviews
78
100% Positive
7 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
90
Nov 19, 2020
Dorothy Lewis, the subject of director Alex Gibney’s collagist masterpiece Crazy, Not Insane, is out to demolish “the myth of pure evil.” As such, she may be among the most dangerous women in the world. She is certainly a “pioneer,” as one colleague calls her, adding that pioneers are often not treated very well.
By John Anderson FULL REVIEW
90
Oct 27, 2020
An urgent film, it's filled with chilling detail and propelled by clear-eyed compassion.
By Sheri Linden FULL REVIEW
80
Oct 27, 2020
You may not agree with everything Dorothy Lewis says in “Crazy, Not Insane,” but you come out of the movie alive to the place where evil and insanity meet and then fall back apart.
By Owen Gleiberman FULL REVIEW
75
Nov 18, 2020
As storyteller, Gibney finds a constructive manner to mindfully engage our admittedly bizarre fixation with murder (which would be worthy of a separate doc) while encouraging a more humane way to approach some of society's most violent figures.
By Nick Allen FULL REVIEW
70
Nov 18, 2020
Dr. Lewis is an engaging interview subject whose clarity and upbeat demeanor contrast strikingly with the macabre material. Her writings are read as voice-overs by Laura Dern. Dr. Lewis has also kept an excellent archive.
By Ben Kenigsberg FULL REVIEW
70
Oct 27, 2020
The film offers an engrossing overview of the painstaking, insightful investigations carried out over the years by Lewis and associates.
By Jonathan Romney FULL REVIEW
63
Nov 17, 2020
The director of “Taxi to the Dark Side” has once again taken on a complex evil being done in our name, a subject no one really wants to think about, and forced us to consider the many ramifications of making a flippant and terminal judgment on something that demands attention and understanding, in light of what we now know.
By Roger Moore FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 5 User Ratings
6.2
60% Positive
3 Ratings
20% Mixed
1 Rating
20% Negative
1 Rating

User Reviews

 View All
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 5 User Ratings
6.2
60% Positive
3 Ratings
20% Mixed
1 Rating
20% Negative
1 Rating

There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.

Details

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Production Company Jigsaw Productions
Release Date Nov 18, 2020
Duration 1 h 59 m
Rating TV-MA
Genres
Tagline Murderers are made, not born.
View All Details

Awards

Montclair Film Festival (MFF)
• 1 Nomination

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