They Called Him Mostly Harmless (2024)

5.0

An unremarkable documentary following the amateur sleuths who tried to uncover the mysterious identity of a deceased hiker

HBO Max

Movie

United States of America

English

Crime, Documentary, Mystery

2024

FEMALE DIRECTOR, PATRICIA E. GILLESPIE

89 min

TLDR

You learn more about the internet sleuths who fancy themselves detectives than the subject of the case.

What it's about

Law enforcement and the hiking community come together to solve the mystery surrounding an unidentified hiker who passed away without leaving a trace of his identity.

The take

As documentaries go, They Called Him Mostly Harmless is pretty standard, if not forgettable, fare. There isn’t a lot of information regarding the case it focuses on, so it relies heavily on interviews with related persons and “internet sleuths” who have taken it upon themselves to solve the mystery of this hiker’s identity. It moves slowly, bogged even further down by unnecessary backstories that do nothing to get us closer to cracking the case. To be sure, it’s impressive that the missing man in question was able to scrub all evidence of his existence in this digital age, but the documentary fails to build on that intrigue and instead gives us something that sputters till the end.

What stands out

In a sea of grim documentaries centered on serial killers, I’m just relieved this true crime story goes the other direction. It’s less about death than it is about a tight-knit community that banded together to help a member of the community find his peace. The best part about this documentary is that it’s hopeful, the worst part is everything else.