Canceled: The Paula Deen Story

Directed by Billy Corben, Canceled: The Paula Deen Story explores the life and times of famed celebrity chef Paula Deen – with the movie charting her rise to success and eventual downfall. It’s compelling subject matter that’s employed to entertaining (albeit erratic) effect by Corben, as the filmmaker offers up a palpably overlong documentary that does an effective job of covering the highs and lows of Deen’s career – with, of course, the emphasis placed on her dramatic fall from grace due to a racism scandal. Before it gets to that point, however, Canceled: The Paula Deen Story boasts a blazingly-paced exploration of Deen’s meteoric ascent to superstardom, and it’s clear, certainly, that the movie benefits from the open, honest interviews with a wide range of folks – including Deen herself, who comes off as self-aware and completely engaging. And while Corben does a good job of tackling Deen’s various problems, Canceled: The Paula Deen Story inexplicably doubles back on itself and dives right back into Deen’s earlier endeavors – with this baffling decision wreaking havoc on the picture’s momentum and ensuring that it fizzles out to a rather palpable degree. Still, Canceled: The Paula Deen Story generally comes off as an agreeable-enough piece of work that does force one to view its subject in a whole new light.

**1/2 out of ****