TV Review: Inventing Anna Is TV Addiction At Its Finest

I never forget the time Michelle Obama spoke about how oddly unimpressive Princeton. There she was with the children of the richest and most powerful in a school deemed for the elite and intelligent; only to find neither. I can say that has been my mutual experience when running with higher society, and Inventing Anna lives in that space of a young woman who realizes the only thing that makes you special in this world is your ability to convince others you are. Thus, money may differentiate the rich and the poor, but if you want to transfer to either section, it is the your ability to confidently lie that will make the transfer. 

Julia Garner plays “Anna Delvey,” which is not her actual name. In fact, Vivian (Anna Chlumsky) has a really hard time getting anything about Anna. It is as if she just appeared, and maneuvered her way into a world that is all about appearance. Based on the true story, Garner is brilliant as Anna because she does not make her a hero, vigilante, or a victim. This in not a story about the “little guy” trying to get back at the bigger ones. NOPE! This is the tale of a poor, mean girl that really wanted to be rich, and realized that rich people like mean. From the beginning, Anna is cruel, snarky, and lies every single second to everyone about everyone. To say the least, the wealthy love her because when you own the world, gossip becomes your only entertainment.

If there is one thing that unites the utmost poor and filthy rich its gossip, and the realization that having everything or nothing, materially, can be boring. It is as if to have it all or not leaves a lot of dead silence/ space for rumors to spread and bring some “dramatic fun.” Enter Anna’s ability to understand that rich people like to look understated in dress while overstated in talk. The  way she picks up this manipulation is fascinating to both you and the pregnant Vivian, who truly believes the story of a “hack” that, technically, hacked a bunch of hacks will revive her career before she exchanged email chains for diaper ones. Chlumsky does well at feeling like the audience within the show; getting giddy at unpacking the wild lies that led Anna to steal a jet, nearly make a half-billion dollar deal with a law firm,  take her friends to Morocco with no money, and make a high-end motivational speaker, wealthy heiresses, and a fashion designer fight for her approval. You are riveted not because Anna was an evil genius as much as someone who realized the powerful are not. 

I always say that a good con understands that all he or she has to do is let people lie to themselves via them. In essence, Anna is a mirror, and everyone that talks to her is really talking to themselves. The powerful are not brilliant or even gutturally vicious; they are just egos. Anna Delvey was a pure ego and understood that is what makes you rich. Premieres On Netflix February 11.