McKenzie’s impressive directorial debut aims to sort through the crypto hysteria
Best known for his lead role in the early 2000s teenage soap opera The O.C., Ben McKenzie has since supplemented his acting career with a journalistic approach to economics (a subject he earned an undergraduate degree in from the University of Virginia). Based on his writing debut, 2023’s “Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud,” McKenzie has directed, produced, and starred in a documentary, Everyone is Lying to You for Money, exploring his concern and criticism of the cryptocurrency era. Maintaining a brisk pace and a high-level approach suitable for wide audience consumption, McKenzie’s documentary effectively frames the critical questions we should all, as a monetarily-driven society, be asking about crypto.
The inner workings of cryptocurrency are a mystery to most people (including me), yet the story used to sell crypto’s benefits and potential are inspiring. Ben McKenzie latches on to this framework and investigates the who, what, and why such a volatile ecosystem has disrupted financial institutions around the world and spiked an escalation in fraud. McKenzie utilizes tight editing, strong music and animation choices, and his own brand of casual self-effacing humor to bring the audience along on his journey. He benefits from his celebrity access, understanding the privilege at his fingertips, and commendably uses it to get deeper in-the-weeds of his investigation, even somehow getting a one-on-one interview with Sam Bankman-Fried not long before his arrest. McKenzie also travels to El Salvador, where the crypto-loving President Nayib Bukele has embraced Bitcoin and promised to build a Bitcoin City. In speaking to village merchants and local residents, McKenzie exposes the falsehood and PR-infused greed at the heart of Bukele’s promises. Due to the strong blend of Hollywood insider content, international investigating, and interviews, McKenzie manages to avoid getting stuck in a storytelling silo that easily could’ve plagued such a “one man” production.
So, does Everyone is Lying to You for Money clear up any confusion about what cryptocurrency is, and what’s ultimately good and bad about it? Somewhat. Well, yes and no. The film presents the obvious questions and searches for answers, finding a few and coming to its own conclusions as well. Some extra time reporting on the ways crypto, in its most trustworthy, “regulated”, philanthropic form could be a beneficial modern financial system would have better highlighted the ways in which crypto’s current iteration is an epic failure. McKenzie touches on this angle, but doesn’t pursue it. However, he also doesn’t treat the subject matter as black and white. He knows he’s not a financial advisor, and he doesn’t have the answers, so he frames his research and film as a first step, a warning, and a nudge to ask questions before getting swept up in crypto’s marketed promises.
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Everyone is Lying to You for Money opens in limited theaters on Friday, April 17th.
