McMillions - Season 1

Unpacks the incredible story of the McDonald's Monopoly scam with flair, even if the shape and contours of the series are familiar.

Compassion, not chaos, is the key to "McMillions" success. The mindful storytellers carefully shift tones, sucking viewers into an outlandish story before driving home its substantive impact.

The story behind McMillions is as delicious as a thick juicy burger. Yet like the criminal scheme at its core, the HBO documentary inspired by it proves a little too cute and clever for its own good.

McMillions has an immediate advantage in that the real people involved in the story are larger-than-life characters.

If you're too young to remember this story - or, like me, you've forgotten many details - the new HBO documentary series McMillions tells it in comprehensive fashion, with more than a little flair.

I've seen only the first three episodes of McMillions, so I can't tell you how this story ends - but it's off to one hell of a start. The end of episode 3 left critics on a cliffhanger, and not hunting down the answer for myself has been a test of wills.

The series has left me feeling excited, sad, amazed, incredulous, and heartbroken.

While McMillions is a surprisingly fun examination of the con and the con men, it's also a worthy portrayal of the toll that predatory offers take on those most vulnerable to their poisoned charms.

If you've ever wondered why you never won more than free french fries while playing Monopoly, you'll want to watch this docuseries.

The filmmakers take a podcast approach, slowing down the action and throwing in extraneous detail to make what would have been a decent feature length story into a six part, six hour slog.

A kind of Argo-meets-The-Imposter by way of Super Size Me, McMillions is an enthralling thriller which should more than satisfy fans of true crime, while not containing any of the genre's usual stomach-churning grisly details.

McMillion$ is absolutely true, and as this six-part docuseries vividly unravels a multi-million-dollar fraud targeting the popular McDonald's Monopoly promotional game from 1989 to 2001, you soon realize there's no improving on these real-life characters.