Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere review – alpha males, beta results
Louis Theroux takes his awkward silences to the manosphere for Netflix. It’s funny, grim and sometimes too generous to its subjects, but it’s still worth 92 minutes of your evening.
Reviewed, edited and approved by Editor-in-chief Daniel Sköld · Updated 25 October 2026
Contents
There is a particular face Louis Theroux makes. Anyone who sat through Weird Weekends in the late 90s knows it: a polite half-smile, eyebrows slightly raised, and a silence long enough to park a Volvo in. For nearly three decades that face has got Scientologists, white supremacists and Las Vegas swingers to say more than they meant to. Now he has pointed it at the manosphere, the online network of shirtless, Lamborghini-adjacent influencers who tell young men how to be real men, and charge them for it.
The result is Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere, a feature-length Netflix documentary that is often very funny and occasionally makes you want to take a long shower. Whether it exposes these men or simply gives them a bigger stage is the question it never quite settles.
What it’s about: hustle, hair-trigger egos and a lot of gym footage
The premise is simple. Theroux travels into what Netflix calls a growing ultra-masculine network and spends time with some of its best-known figures. They sell a lifestyle of money, muscles and dominance over women to a mostly young male audience. Their influence is usually traced back to Andrew Tate, the Luton-raised self-styled alpha whose name has been turning up in British school staffrooms for a few years now. Tate isn’t one of the interviewees, but his shadow hangs over the whole thing.
What Theroux finds early on is less a movement than a business model. These men need attention the way the rest of us need oxygen, and the outrage is part of the product. One of them talks to the camera instead of to Theroux, who is standing right in front of him. That tells you a lot about who these men think the real audience is.
Who’s in it and who made it
Theroux is the only constant, the lanky, bespectacled outsider in rooms full of men who measure their worth in followers. The cast includes the British streamer HSTikkyTokky, real name Harrison Sullivan, along with Myron Gaines, Sneako, the Miami-based Justin Waller and Ed Matthews. It’s directed by Adrian Choa and runs for 92 minutes. The UK rating is 15, which feels right given the language and the views. It’s the first time Theroux has made a feature-length documentary for Netflix rather than for the BBC or his own production slot elsewhere, and the extra budget shows in the glossy locations.
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What works and what doesn’t
When it works, it really works. Theroux has always been best with people who think they’re smarter than him, and this crowd are convinced of it. You get some superb moments of men digging their own holes while he passes them the shovel. A conspiracy theory floated over a photoshoot is so mad you’ll rewind it to check you heard right. The comedy is real, though it comes with a sour aftertaste. Waller, who describes a firmly one-sided version of monogamy, somehow comes across as the most reasonable of the lot. That says plenty.
Theroux doesn’t need to win the argument. He just needs to wait, and these men lose it all by themselves.
The problem is the one critics of the film keep raising. A documentary about men who profit from attention inevitably gives them attention. All the supercars and gym-mirror swagger risk looking like an advert for the life they sell. And while Theroux touches on the hurt and insecurity behind the bravado, the women affected by this culture are barely heard from. If you already know the manosphere well, you won’t learn much that’s new.
What the critics say
Reviews have been sharply split. NME is the biggest fan, calling it a meta masterpiece and one of the greatest documentaries of Theroux’s career. It also praises how much the film says about old media versus new and about the parasocial relationships that make influencers rich. The Independent was far cooler, calling it a failure because his gentle needling is no match for a culture where any exposure counts as a win. One review collected on Metacritic summed up the middle ground with the line “are we actually learning anything new?” Elsewhere, Explosion Network gave it 60 per cent, warning that it comes dangerously close to selling the lifestyle it is meant to question.
Where to watch it in the UK
Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere has been streaming on Netflix in the UK since 10 March 2026. It’s included with every Netflix plan, so you don’t need to rent it or add a channel.
Verdict
It isn’t Theroux’s sharpest work and it doesn’t go very deep, but it’s gripping, frequently hilarious and quietly disturbing, and it’s worth an evening if you’ve ever wondered what your nephew or your kids are watching on their phones. Parents of teenage boys should watch it, preferably before the boys do. If you already know who Sneako is, you’ll find it more confirmation than revelation. Three and a half stars from me.
Ashley Isaacs picks what's worth your evening – film, TV, streaming, music and books for men 45 and over with limited evenings and too many subscriptions. Reviews of what's new on Netflix, Prime Video, BBC iPlayer and the rest, crime dramas worth a weekend, and classics worth a second look. What's worth watching, what isn't, and where to find it in the UK.
One of Midcent's writers. Spotted something? Write to ashley@midcent.uk.
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