The Stanford Prison Experiment

The Stanford Prison Experiment, in the US on Philo and AMC Plus Apple TV Channel , takes its characters as seriously as it takes its plot. It says what it needs to say in one sitting, no filler. Its 7/10 TMDB score, built from 1,005 ratings, reflects a title that consistently delivers. Billy Crudup leads a cast that never overplays its hand. Put it on tonight on Philo and see for yourself.

Whatever else is competing for your attention this week, The Stanford Prison Experiment is worth clearing space for. The writing in The Stanford Prison Experiment treats its characters as people first, plot devices second. In 1971, Stanford's Professor Philip Zimbardo conducts a controversial psychology experiment in which college students pretend to be either prisoners or guards, but the proceedings soon get out of hand. Based on a true story. Billy Crudup and Michael Angarano lead a cast doing genuinely serious work here. It was released in 2015. The writing trusts the audience to sit with ambiguity rather than wrapping everything up in a tidy conclusion — it is the approach that separates good drama from great. It knows exactly what it is, and does not try to be anything else.

Viewers drawn to character-driven storytelling will find plenty to sit with in The Stanford Prison Experiment. It does not lean on comparisons to make its case. A contained runtime means every scene is doing real work. Billy Crudup's work here is the kind that gets referenced in career retrospectives. It makes everything else feel thin by comparison.

The Stanford Prison Experiment was released in 2015, directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez. The full 122-minute film is available to watch now. Find exactly where it's streaming below, and TV Butler Pro makes it effortless to track your progress as you go. Just search the name, and Butler finds it instantly, tells you which service has it, and remembers exactly where you left off.