“Being cool isn’t a renewable resource,” says one contributor to this documentary about the rise and fall of Vice magazine. In the late 2000s and early 2010s, Vice transformed from a punk magazine into a digital empire telling the world what was cool (more specifically, telling millennials, who were then at their peak). By 2017, it was valued at nearly $6 billion; in 2023, Vice filed for bankruptcy. One man who saw it all from the inside is TV chef Eddie Huang, the director and frontman of this film. He had a long-running show on the Viceland channel and says he’s still owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties.
Huang is also an advertisement for the best of Vice: fast-paced, funny, and authentic. The film opens with a host of must-see stories about pre-gentrification Brooklyn and interviews with early employees. It's not meant to be malicious, but Vice Is Broke will be essential viewing for anyone who worked there, with its detailed account of who held what position, job title, and date.
Director: Eddie Huang
Stars: Eddie Huang, David Macklovitch, Amy Kellner
It also examines how Vice's raw, on-the-ground reporting captivated young people who didn't read newspapers or watch TV news. Then, the mainstream media started snooping around, and there's a curious anecdote about the collision of these two worlds. One contributor recalls smoking a "dip"—a cigarette soaked in formaldehyde—outside the Vice offices. He spotted an older man at reception: "I recognize that guy, it's Robert Murdoch!"
The arrogance was epic. Huang recounts how Vice co-founder Shane Smith once boasted to him that he planned to buy the BBC with Elon Musk. Huang, who is very, very funny, retorted, "Don't you have to buy England first?" Smith, who remains at Vice, is conspicuously absent. However, there is an interview with another Vice co-founder, Gavin McInnes, who was ousted and later formed the Proud Boys, a far-right group.
Then comes the sorry spectacle of how Vice is becoming obsolete, reaching its lowest point by publishing inflated articles paid for by Saudi Arabia. But, curiously, there is no mention of the New York Times investigation into the toxic culture of boys' clubs at Vice Media.
Vice Is Broke has been on Mubi since August 29.
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