Some stars burn out. Some crash and burn. Charlie Sheen, Hollywood's perennial bad boy, is certainly the latter: a man whose charisma and talent could have taken him anywhere, but whose demons dragged him through fame, scandal, excess and ruin.
Netflix's Aka Charlie Sheen doesn't pretend it's anything else. It's messy, magnetic, occasionally uncomfortable, and exactly what you'd expect from a man whose biggest hits came wrapped in controversy and whose worst moments played out like live entertainment for the masses.
This two-part, three-hour documentary, directed by Andrew Renzi, feels less like a deep dive and more like Sheen finally getting the microphone and telling it his way.
It's chaotic, selective, and at times leaves you wanting more honesty, but it's also oddly compelling, because this is a guy who knows how to perform even when he's baring his soul.
The film is loosely built around three phases of Sheen's life: partying, partying with problems, and just problems, phrases he came up with himself and uses to narrate the rollercoaster he's been on.
We start in Malibu, where Charlie, born Carlos Estevez, grew up under the shadow of his father, Martin Sheen and brother Emilio Estevez. He made home movies with friends like George Clooney and Sean Penn, and by his twenties, he was racking up roles in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Wall Street and Platoon, quickly becoming one of the most promising actors of his generation.
But fame came with temptations, and temptations came with consequences. Drugs, alcohol and sex slowly chipped away at both his career and personal life.
Family interventions, including those led by his father, Martin, only managed to stem the tide temporarily. The first part ends with his stint on Spin City, leading to his breakout role as Charlie Harper on Two and a Half Men, catapulting him into sitcom superstardom.
The second part charts his meteoric rise and equally disastrous descent. His marriages to Denise Richards and Brooke Mueller unravel, crack cocaine addiction takes hold, and a public meltdown involving bizarre media appearances, including rants about "tiger blood" and "winning," only cemented his reputation as Hollywood's worst nightmare.
Fired from the show, hounded by the press, and seemingly unravelling by the day, Sheen's downfall was headline fodder.
Now sober and in his sixties, Sheen tells the story himself, in his own way: sometimes brutally honest, sometimes glossed over, but always unapologetic.
Who's In And Who's Out
The documentary's strongest moments come from those closest to him. Ex-wives Denise Richards and Brooke Mueller are upfront, both offering brutally honest reflections, tinged with empathy.
Jon Cryer, his Two And A Half Men co-star, delivers the most clear-eyed and personal account, laying bare how Sheen's erratic behaviour affected everyone around him. Friends like Sean Penn and Tony Todd add colour, and there's even Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss, who doesn't hold back and lets Sheen have it.
But absence looms large. His father, Martin and brother Emilio both declined to participate. Several of his children also opted out, and while the film uses family footage and clever editing to fill in some gaps, it never fully replaces their voices.
The Scandals He Talks About (And Those He Doesn't)
If you're watching this hoping for a scandal-packed confession, you'll get plenty, but not everything. Some of the most explosive issues are mentioned briefly or sidestepped altogether.
One of the most talked-about incidents, which the documentary opens with, involves a wild episode during his honeymoon with his first wife, Donna Peele. Sheen recounts how, after consuming eight shots of scotch, he was invited by a starstruck flight crew to briefly take control of a commercial jet mid-flight.
"I'm there drunk, close to 300 people asleep behind me, an angry bride 20 feet behind me, and I start guiding this plane," he said. The crew even dressed him in a pilot's uniform and posed for photographs with him before realising the potential danger. The autopilot was soon re-engaged by the co-pilot, preventing what could have been a "disastrous" event.
The documentary further explores Sheen's early years, revealing troubling episodes that shaped his reckless persona. At the age of 15, while travelling to Las Vegas with his father, Martin Sheen, and a friend, he lost his virginity to an escort.
He describes the experience with his signature dark humour, "She was Ann-Margret in her prime with a Mastercard swiper. I didn't care that the swipe took longer than the sex." Using his father's credit card, Sheen paid the escort.
Sheen's upbringing, too, was unconventional. He recalls how his parents encouraged freedom of expression to the point of "practising nudism for several months". "So yeah, I'm 5, walking into the kitchen, and there's my naked parents," he said.
The documentary doesn't shy away from the more serious controversies either. Sheen's HIV diagnosis, which he revealed to the public in 2015 after keeping it private for four years, became a focal point of extortion attempts. Sheen explained that some partners searched his personal spaces, photographing medication bottles, and threatened exposure to extract money. "I had to pay them," he said, adding that the lowest amount he paid to silence a threat was $500,000, while another person demanded as much as $4.1 million.
He insisted that he was always upfront with partners, stating, "I was wearing condoms, and I was, by then, completely undetectable. I was checking every box."
Another documentary's most talked-about revelation is Sheen's admission that during his crack cocaine phase, he engaged in sexual encounters with men. The actor owns it without regret, saying it felt liberating and part of his past that shouldn't have been hidden.
The documentary skimps over the darker allegations: domestic abuse, restraining orders, and accusations of exposing partners to HIV. They're acknowledged but not explored, and several important moments are glossed over, as if uncomfortable territory is best left unexamined.
Renzi's style plays into the film's themes. There's no flashy reconstruction, just staged interviews in a diner, archival clips from films, and family Super 8 videos that add texture without distracting from the subject.
Scenes from Apocalypse Now or Wall Street are cleverly paired with stories of relapse and downfall, reminding viewers how Sheen's life has always been intertwined with Hollywood's illusion of glamour.
The documentary leans into this overlap. It doesn't try to separate Charlie Sheen the actor from Charlie Sheen the addict, because the two have always been one and the same.
A Story That Knows It's A Trainwreck And Plays Into It
Netflix, with its obsession for true-crime and scandal series, knows exactly what it's doing with Aka Charlie Sheen. The film feels aware of its role in feeding the audience's fascination with celebrity collapse.
And Sheen plays along, offering confessions at just the right moments, self-deprecating humour, and smirks that suggest he knows he's both guilty and irresistible.
It's hard not to be drawn in. Even when it's evading uncomfortable truths, it's a fascinating performance from a man who's never been shy about courting controversy. Whether it's all calculated or genuinely candid, watching him tell his own story is an experience you can't look away from.
A Glorious Mess You Won't Regret Watching
Aka Charlie Sheen isn't a redemption story, and it doesn't pretend to be. It's a crash course in excess, ego and the way Hollywood's brightest stars can fall hardest.
Sheen's charm, humour, and openness make it entertaining, but his lack of real remorse keeps it from being entirely satisfying.
Still, it's an unfiltered look at one of Hollywood's most infamous figures, one who's been both adored and reviled in equal measure.
In the end, you leave the film with more questions than answers, which, in a way, is perfect. Charlie Sheen's life was never neat, and neither is his story. But like him, it's impossible not to watch and impossible not to be fascinated.
It's a winning formula, after all.
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Charlie Sheen, David Moskowitz, Richard Lichter, Sean Penn, Denise Richards
