Four minutes into Apple TV+'s WeCrashed, it's clear that Adam Neumann (Jared Leto) and his wife Rebekah (Anne Hathaway) are living in their own world. After a lavish wakeup routine involving three separate assistants and a pre-breakfast bong hit, the WeWork CEO makes his way into a spacious kitchen that Rebekah's planning to remodel. He screams, "Rise and grind," takes a nozzle of coconut whipped cream to the mouth, and the two depart for WeWork headquarters. Adam walks barefoot to the car, blows off an urgent phone call, and begs his driver to turn up his favorite jam, Katy Perry's "Roar."
The limited series then rewinds to the late 2000s, when Adam was nothing more than a struggling entrepreneur who lacked intention. It chronicles WeWork's conception alongside co-founder Miguel McKelvey (Kyle Marvin); the company's ascent to a $47 billion valuation; and the tumultuous tumbles, baleful burn rate, and preposterous IPO filing that led to Adam stepping down as CEO in 2019. Showrunners Lee Eisenberg and Drew Crevello highlight major moments in the company's history — including WeWork "summer camp" — but they give WeCrashed a unique twist by focusing on the love story behind the startup: Adam and Rebekah.
If you're already familiar with the damning details of WeWork's rise and fall and are hungry for fresh company revelations, WeCrashed might not be worth the watch. The eight-episode series, based on Wondery's 2020 WeCrashed podcast, isn't as insightful or in-depth as other popular retellings, such as Hulu's WeWork: or The Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn, or Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell's The Cult of We: WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion. I'm not convinced the world needed another WeWork story, let alone one stretched out over eight hours. But if you're looking to be entertained — to watch Leto and Hathaway wholly channel the startups' misguided maverick and muse — then WeCrashed delivers. The Apple TV+ series features stellar cinematography, supercuts, and special effects that help speed up and animate the drawn-out saga. And the score is so sprightly that it almost makes you believe all the bullshit. Almost.
WeCrashed presents Adam Neumann as a man who genuinely believes he's meant to change the world. The entrepreneur exudes confidence — even when pushing ideas like Krawlers, onesies with knee pads for babies — but we come to learn, as Rebekah told him on their first date, that he's largely "full of shit." He doesn't take no for an answer and has mastered the art of persuading people. Whether he's conning his neighbor into sharing food or convincing people to invest inordinate amounts of cash in his vision, Adam gets what he wants or pesters the hell out of people until they give it to him. With the help of facial prosthetics, distressingly dark contact lenses, and an Israeli accent, Leto gives a lively portrayal of a stubborn disruptor who's hell bent on outdoing himself. And his work is only elevated by Hathaway.
Throughout the series, Hathaway brilliantly captures Rebekah's gnawing insecurities and a desperate desire to achieve something of her own. As the cousin of Gwyneth Paltrow and the wife of a unicorn company CEO, she's constantly trying to claw herself out of the shadows and manifest success. Hathaway summons a deep voice for the role and delivers absurd lines like "You're a supernova" and "I am the soul of the company" with a straight face and terrifying levels of conviction. Several of Rebekah's solo storylines — including a focus on her father's fraudulent cancer charity and her attempt at an acting career — overly distract from the WeWork saga at times. But others, such as her friendship with Elishia Kennedy, a juice company CEO played by America Ferrera (meant to represent SoulCycle founder Julie Rice), and her passion project running WeWork's school, WeGrow, set up some of her most compelling scenes.
Together, the Neumanns build and ultimately break WeWork. Adam's "spend money to grow" mentality drives the company into debt, and he refuses to learn from past mistakes. Rebekah encourages his reckless behavior and adds to the chaos by trying to further her own unsound business agendas. There's a clear point at which the company starts figuratively going up in flames. To quote Katy Perry's "Roar," which is threaded throughout the series in such a way that will make you cackle, Adam and Rebekah seem perfectly content "dancing through the fire."
It isn't until straight-shooting investment firm partner Cameron Lotner (O-T Fagbenle) steps in to call Adam out for irresponsible, nonsensical behavior that the company encounters any real voice of reason. Lotner's relatable rage offers viewers some light catharsis, but naturally, Adam ignores him and continues following his own instincts. Blinded by their desire to "elevate the world's consciousness," he and Rebekah make a major misstep that leads to their downfall. In scenes representing how out-of-touch the characters are (you can't help but find them comical), the two put their own creative spin — complete with flowery language and an elaborate photo spread — on WeWork's S-1 form, a crucial legal document they were advised against touching. That stunt, along with a harmful Wall Street Journal piece, leads to WeWork's IPO being postponed and proves to WeWork's board that Adam isn't fit to run a public company. He's finally ousted. Don't worry, he still has a net worth of more than $2 billion.
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At times, WeCrashed is genuinely hard to watch. Episode 3 gives a taste of the toxic work culture by revealing the company lacked an HR department for a significant stretch of time, gave employees stock options in lieu of proper wages, and was "a really bad place to work, especially for women." Seeing that play out in the background while insufferable human beings become filthy rich isn't everyone's idea of a good time. But Leto and Hathaway wear insufferable well in WeCrashed, and though Adam and Rebekah's cringy behavior and antics grow tiresome, the performances remain amusing throughout. Plus, whenever you start to feel burnt out, "Roar" comes back to revive you.
The first three episodes of WeCrashed are now streaming on Apple TV+. New episodes are released every Friday.
