Martha Stewart’s Netflix documentary is getting rave reviews from everyone, except Martha Stewart

Last week, Netflix dropped Martha; their almost two-hour documentary about legendary American businesswoman/TV personality/bestie of Snoop Dogg, Martha Stewart. 

The film covered Martha’s remarkable rise, fall and rise again – covering her life from its humble beginnings to becoming America’s first female self-made billionaire. We learn of her relationships, romantic, familiar and platonic. We watch her pursuit of perfectionism and power. We cheer her on as she completely rebuilds her reputation and evolves after a public and legal reckoning.

Everything she does is completely compelling.

To almost everyone, Martha is a hit, even scoring a whopping 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. But if you ask the woman who prefers both her vegetables and her soundtracks fresh what she thought, it’s a different story.

Profiled by The New York Times, Martha alluded to the publication that she and Martha director R.J. Cutler had creative differences, particularly when it came to the film’s score and camera angles, of which she found unflattering.

“He chooses to use the ugliest angle,” she told the magazine.”I told him, ‘Don’t use that angle! That’s not the nicest angle. You had three cameras. Use the other angle.’ He would not change that.” God, she’s so real for that.

In terms of the music used to score the documentary, Martha was disappointed her close friend Snoop Dogg and his contemporaries weren’t featured.

“I said to R.J., ‘An essential part of the film is that you play rap music.’ Dr Dre will probably score it, or Snoop or Fredwreck. I said, ‘I want that music.’ And then he gets some lousy classical score in there, which has nothing to do with me.” 

For context, Martha met Snoop at The Comedy Central Roast of Justin Bieber in 2015, a variety special instrumental in boosting Martha’s popularity and challenging the narrative about her.

As per Time’s review of the special, “If last night’s broadcast of the Comedy Central roast of Justin Bieber is any indication, Martha Stewart has entered a new phase of her career — and it’s one that’s defined by subverting her image. Call it an unexpected, welcome turn from a star whose perceived image of chilly perfection has too long been ripe for mockery by others. At last, Stewart seems to be in on the joke.”

Along with working as a great piece of PR for her, the Roast was where Martha and Snoop cemented their friendship, an unlikely duo that pop culture adored and led to the creation of Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party, a cooking show the pair co-hosted between 2016 and 2020.

Given their bond and Martha’s pivot to a more culturally-contemporary brand, I can understand her frustration in feeling misidentified by Martha’s musical choices.

Speaking of frustration around identity, another part of the documentary Martha took umbrage with was the ending.

“Those last scenes with me looking like a lonely old lady walking hunched over in the garden?” she vented to The NYT. “Boy, I told him to get rid of those. And he refused.”

“I hate those last scenes. Hate them. I had ruptured my achilles tendon. I had to have this hideous operation. And so I was limping a little. But again, he doesn’t even mention why – that I can live through that and still work seven days a week.”

Martha is currently 83-years-old, and after watching almost two hours of footage of this woman’s tenacity, I get the sense that she will never view herself as old. Nor should she, and nor should she be made to with a documentary about herself.

At the very least, she deserves context.

Her final gripe about Martha was the emphasis on the 2004 trial that led to her felony charges and prison time. As per People, Martha was “found guilty on charges including conspiracy and obstruction of justice. She was sentenced to five months in prison and two years of probation — leaving the future of her company and her reputation uncertain.”

In short, Martha sold some shares at the advice of the stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic, and both she and Peter were accused of “acting on non-public knowledge when they made the trade — and then lying about it to the feds.”

Not only did Martha spend time in prison, but she was stripped of the CEO and Chairwoman titles of her company, Martha Stewart Living.

“The trial and the actual incarceration was less than two years out of an 83-year life. I considered it a vacation, to tell you the truth,” she told The NYT.

It’s not completely surprising that Martha struggled with elements of the documentary.  As someone intensely private who doesn’t care to relinquish control, it tracks. I mean, I can’t imagine loving watching footage of myself at the lowest and darkest moments of my own life. 

But I was glad to hear that Martha enjoyed the first half of the film, and is thankful for the positive feedback.

“So many girls have already told me that watching it gave them a strength that they didn’t know they had,” Martha told The NYT. “And that’s the thing I like most about the documentary. It really shows a strong woman standing up for herself and living through horror as well as some huge success.”

“That’s what I wanted the documentary to be,” she continued. “It shouldn’t be me boasting about inner strength and any of that crap. It should be about showing that you can get through life and still be yourself.”

If Martha’s “self” is strong, determined, successful, funny and flawed, then I think R.J. Cutler might have done a better job than she’s given him credit for. 

Martha is currently streaming on Netflix.

Written by Lil Friedmann, who really wishes she had “America’s first female self-made billionaire” listed as her achievement. You can follow her at @lilfriedmann on socials.

Image credit: Netflix + Punkee