DOCUMENTARY; 1hr 27min
DIRECTED BY: Errol Morris
Front-page news: McKinney (in an undated photo)
Some people strew chaos in their wake. Whatever else she may be — obsessive, delusional or just a big ol’ romantic with a marshmallow heart — Joyce McKinney is a mayhem virtuoso. Morris (The Fog of War ), one of the planet’s keenest observers, smoothly guides a chipper to-camera McKinney through her scandalous history, splicing her narrative with the contrasting perspectives of others involved. Notably absent is Kirk Anderson, the young Mormon missionary who in 1977 alleged that he was kidnapped in England, chained to a bed and raped by the former Miss Wyoming.
McKinney was, and is, adamant that she and the beefy, buttoned-down Anderson were consensual lovers and, indeed, that he is the love of her life. In any event, the British tabloid papers had a field day with “The Case of the Manacled Mormon,” pouncing on a murky past vigorously denied by McKinney — who skipped the country with a variety of disguises.
In the end, who cares what the hell happened? The lady is a trouper and a human cork, most recently bobbing up in Korea in 2008, where she had her dog Booger cloned. Five times.
