'Untold: The Death and Life of Lamar Odom' Movie review: Rise, fall, repeat

Netflix’s ‘Untold: The Death & Life of Lamar Odom’ follows a familiar path. Fame, fall, and a slow climb back. It is a story we have seen before, but Odom’s life gives it weight. The film keeps things simple and lets him do most of the talking.

The documentary moves quickly through his basketball career. Championships, the Lakers years, the spotlight. Then it shifts to his life off the court, and slows down a bit. His marriage to Khloé Kardashian, the sudden fame that came with it, and how that attention started to build pressure. What looks stable from the outside slowly begins to crack.

His drug addiction and how it quietly takes over becomes the centre of the story. He talks about hiding it, losing control, and the people around him not always knowing how bad things had become. The overdose is handled without spectacle. It is not built up like a twist, just presented as the point where everything finally breaks. Odom speaks about it with a kind of distance, like he is still trying to process it. Recovery is not shown as a clean turnaround. It feels uncertain and fragile. Like most ‘Untold’ entries, the film is clean and straightforward.

Interviews, archive footage, and a steady timeline. It moves fast, sometimes too fast. Big moments do not get the time they need. There is enough here to keep one engaged, mostly because of Odom himself. But it feels more like a recap than a deep dive. Good in parts, but not lasting.