You may have noticed that someone at Netflix made sure that it had multiple Charlie Sheen movies to run this month.
It’s not a coincidence that Netflix is also debuting AKA Charlie Sheen, a new documentary that features the actor and several of his closest friends and family members looking back at his epic meltdowns.
Since Netflix is billing this as a “two-part film,” I’m calling AKA Charlie Sheen the one Netflix movie I can’t wait to watch in September.
There are other movies on the streamer this month that are more popular, like KPop Demon Hunters and The Wrong Paris, but none of those films can match the spectacle that Sheen brings.
Charlie Sheen Opens Up About His Addictions and Meltdowns
Some critics believe that Sheen isn’t nearly forthcoming enough about what he’s done and everything he went through. That may be the case, but there is something very compelling about Sheen revisiting his roller coaster life in the public eye from the vantage of sobriety.
In some of the early clips from the film, Sheen seems both proud and somewhat ashamed of his past exploits, especially when he flipped out while starring in Two and a Half Men over a decade ago. For a generation of fans, Sheen’s “winning!” and “tiger blood” rants defined him more than any Hollywood movie or sitcom he’s ever appeared in. For better or worse, that’s what makes him intriguing.
It Features Some of Sheen’s Most Famous Detractors
For reasons that haven’t been fully explained, neither Sheen’s father, Martin Sheen, nor his brother, Emilio Estevez, participated in this doc. Instead, Sheen’s other brother, Ramon Estevez, and Sheen’s best friend, Sean Penn, fill in some of the gaps from his formative years.
But the most interesting thing about the documentary is that the filmmakers also invited Sheen’s ex-wives, Denise Richards and Brooke Mueller, his Two and a Half Men costar, Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men showrunner Chuck Lorre and even Heidi Fleiss, the Hollywood madam who was linked to Sheen decades ago. Those are the people who don’t have a vested interest in making Sheen look good, and they have the most brutally honest assessments of his complicated personality.
It’s an Unfinished Story Worth Watching
The documentary is part of a larger media push by Sheen that includes his new autobiography, The Book of Sheen. But the unanswered question hanging over Sheen and the documentary is about whether this is a redemption tour or just another stage of his cycle of addiction.
According to Sheen, he’s been sober for seven years and is happy with his life now. I hope that’s the case for his sake and his family’s. But Sheen’s crash and burns are such an ingrained part of his story that it’s hard not to expect a repeat at some point in his future. The only one who can really write a happy ending for Sheen is the actor himself. The rest of us will just have to wait and watch how it plays out.
AKA Charlie Sheen is streaming on Netflix.
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