WEWORK: OR THE MAKING AND BREAKING OF A $47 BILLION UNICORN

Having worked at a company that was acquired by WeWork for over two years, I have personal experience with the insanity that unfolded during the attempted launch of its IPO. After listening to numerous podcasts and reading articles and published books about the rise and crash of this real estate company, I was very excited to see what this documentary written and directed by Jed Rothstein would offer.

Unfortunately the answer was very little. At a running time of 104 minutes, this documentary broke very little new ground outside of showcasing never before scene footage of co-founder Adam Neumann preparing for the road show that was to officially launch WeWork's IPO. There is an insane story about Neumann's confusion of the difference between a latte and cappuccino that I found particularly amusing but I was left feeling that this documentary lacked a sense of helplessness that was felt amongst a lot of the staff at the time of this company's implosion.

The documentary is driven through testimonials from journalists and past critics such as Scott Galloway who called bs on WeWork very early on in its dominance of NY real estate. However a lot of these talking points have been heard on Wondery and Bloomberg's podcasts on WeWork. Unless you knew absolutely nothing about this company, this documentary will feel incredibly redundant. I was disappointed that there weren't more former WeWork employee testimonies to emphasize the lack of honesty that came from their leadership and the denial that the company was anything but a real estate leasing company. The unhinged environment that was WeWork summer camp was barely touched on nor was the almost cult-like "Thank God It's Monday" celebrations and all hands company meetings. Maybe the creators didn't have access to that footage or thought that it wouldn't fit well with the narrative they had in mind. What exactly is that narrative? Hard to say. In a way I wish that someone other than a white male had taken on this project to have a unique perspective of how a charismatic white man such as Adam was able to not only charm his way out of accountability but raise billions of dollars on the concept of "We over me". An ironic phrase giving how much Neumann was revealed to be self-dealing.

While it's unfair to expect something as entertaining and absurd as the Netflix Fyre festival, I was hoping to be engaged in this fall from grace story more than I have been with audio podcasts investigating the same subject. To say I was disappointed in this documentary not reaching its potential with such juicy matter is an understatement.

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-Brandon Collins