Inventing Anna: Netflix’s frothy scammer drama is ‘all a bit silly’
Show tells story of Anna Delvey, the woman who infiltrated New York society

Few stories feel as “perfectly poised for the screen” as that of Anna Delvey – the Russian truck driver’s daughter who infiltrated New York society by posing as a German heiress, and defrauded banks and individuals out of hundreds of thousands of dollars along the way. A magazine article about her went viral in 2018; now Netflix has turned the affair into a “nine-episode romp”, said Annabel Nugent in The Independent.
Julia Garner‘s Delvey is a smirky “mean girl” with a weird pan-European accent. Hot on her tail is semi-fictionalised journalist Vivian Kent (Anna Chlumsky), who is trying to unravel her story. It is a fascinating tale, but the series feels like a wasted opportunity: we never really get a sense of who Delvey was, or what motivated her.
The problem isn’t Garner’s portrayal of the young grifter, said Anita Singh in The Daily Telegraph – though it is “no more than adequate”. It is the way the drama takes the spotlight off her, “and makes a reporter the star of the show”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Kent comes across as a wildly unrealistic “Lois Lane/ Nancy Drew figure determined to crack the case”. She’s in the last stages of pregnancy with her first child, but cares so much more about the case, she papers the walls of the nursery with mugshots of Delvey (inside info: real-life journalists don’t actually do this).
It’s all a bit silly, said Lucy Mangan in The Guardian. Producer Shonda Rhimes has opted to turn this true-life story into “a modern soap opera” that invites viewers into the glossy world of the super-rich; but it is great fun.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Keep the fun going with these 7 subscription gift boxes
The Week Recommends Bring the party to their mailbox
-
Babies born using 3 people's DNA are without hereditary disease
Under the radar The method could eliminate mutations for future generations
-
Crossword: July 23, 2025
The Week's daily crossword
-
Art Review: Hilma af Klint's What Stands Behind the Flowers
Feature Museum of Modern Art, New York City, through Sept. 27
-
Geoff Dyer's 6 favorite books about the realities of war
Feature The award-winning author recommends works by Ernie Pyle, Michael Herr, and more
-
Book review: 'A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck'
Feature A couple works to keep their marriage together while lost at sea
-
Kartoffelsalat (potato salad) recipe
The Week Recommends German dish is fresh, creamy and an ideal summer meal
-
6 peaceful homes near small towns
Feature Featuring doors with local topographical maps in Oregon and a 1850s homestead-turned-house in Vermont
-
Too Much: London-set romantic comedy from Lena Dunham
The Week Recommends Megan Stalter stars as a 'neurotic' New Yorker who falls in love with a Brit
-
Apocalypse in the Tropics: a 'troubling' portrait of modern Brazil
The Week Recommends Petra Costa's sobering documentary examines the rise of right-wing evangelical Christianity in Brazilian politics
-
Murderland: a 'hauntingly compulsive' book
The Week Recommends Caroline Fraser sets out a 'compelling theory' that toxins were to blame for the 1970s serial killer epidemic