I thought Mank was an atrocious film, which is odd. I mean, surely this David Fincher–directed Netflix project was practically made for me.

I’m one of those freaks who really cares about the career of screenwriter Herman J. “Mank” Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) and his battle with media wunderkind Orson Welles (Tom Burke) over the writing credit on Citizen Kane. I can even get all worked up over the portrayal of Herman’s younger brother and professional rival Joe Mankiewicz, a legend in his own right.

And I’m fascinated by the movie’s weird, made-up plotline that has Mank angry and vengeful about the way Hollywood moguls, funded by newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, knee-capped socialist Upton Sinclair in his 1934 bid for California governor. In Mank, it’s this right-wing sandbagging that pushes our screenwriting hero to skewer Hearst with his thinly veiled characterization of him as Charles Foster Kane.