The latest Theroux documentary sees a jump to Netflix and a revisiting to the world of the ‘Manosphere’. around 10 years ago Louis explored the ‘alt right’ pipeline and the manosphere was an element of what he touched on, and now 10 years on he’s back exploring the increasingly bizarre world of ‘male influencers’ and redpill culture.

The whole ‘Alpha Male’, ‘Blackpill’, Looksmaxxing Incel movement is prime material for Theroux, and in his own way he shines a light on what is essentially a LOT of sad and lost souls using their own internalised hatred to try and find meaning in a world thats moved beyond them. They say that a child who is shunned by its village will burn it down to feel its warmth and by the end of this documentary I was left with no real doubt that if any of these Children could read, we would genuinely be doomed.

At this point, I dont feel like its an overstatement to consider Theroux a national treasure, and this documentary is about as formulaeic as its possible to get really for Theroux’s career at this point. He brings with him a calm and gentle persona that enquires looking for the exact moment where he can really strike into the nub of the issue. In many ways, he’s the antithesis of the ‘manosphere’ movement. A voice that cuts through the snake oil salemen…and its clear here they really dont like it.

Do I think this is his best work? no. I feel like this documentary falls down on three counts. I dont feel like it goes deep enough into the movement, its all very surface level and really designed to be more of an introduction to the concept, rather than an overview of the movement as of 2026. I also dont quite feel like this is as scathing as his first visit into this area. The 2010’s version of this documentary felt more ‘plugged in’ and Theroux seemed much more disdainful and willing to go for the jugular on these strange strange men. But here, I think the fact that a lot of these content creators basically threatened to pull the plug on the whole operation if he probed too deep, kept him at arms length rather than allowing him to get to the crux of the issue.

And finally, I just dont really feel like this builds much on Louis’s previous offers as a documentarian. Dont get me wrong, this is some good Theroux material…But after reinventing himself in the 2010s to move away from the more ‘weird weekends’ aesthetic, I didnt really feel any kind of growth or development from him as a speaker that wasnt seen in offering such as his look into Scientology or last years brilliant piece on the Settlers in Israel.

If you’ve been terminally online for the last few years, I dont think this documentary will offer all that much in the way of revelations. But I think this is the perfect thing to introduce a more mainstream audience to the manosphere concept. Especially if its paired up with his ‘alt right’ documentary from a few years ago. As for me? I enjoyed this as much as I can enjoy any Louise Theroux documentary. But I do feel it couldnt quite find its bite. While it does an excellent job of revealing this ‘influencers’ as scared and scarred sad children being hollowed out by the darkest parts of society. It doesnt quite manage to seal things off in a way that felt satisfying to me. I enjoyed this one. But I wouldnt say its his best.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/louis-theroux-inside-the-manosphere/