How to Watch the David Dobrik Documentary

If you’re a fan of YouTube star David Dobrik, then you will definitely want to check out the new documentary by Casey Neistat. Known as Under the Influence, the movie looks into Dobrik’s rise to fame and the controversy that followed him.

Dobrik is well known for his short vlogs, which are basically videos of him going to parties and doing weird pranks. His audience is extremely large, and his vlogs have a massive reach.

How to Watch

In February, YouTube vlogger Casey Neistat announced that he would be releasing a documentary about fellow content creator David Dobrik. The film is called Under the Influence and will be released on March 12th at SXSW in Austin, Texas.

As the title suggests, the documentary follows the rise and fall of YouTube star David Dobrik, a rising internet sensation who has more than 18 million subscribers on his channel. He has a show on Discovery plus, and was recently named one of the highest-paid YouTube creators in 2020.

Dobrik is known for creating over-the-top videos that often feature barely supervised stunts, pranks, and alcohol-fueled romps. He often enlists a crew of young, dissolute jackasses to join him on these projects, which he calls the “Vlog Squad.”

When Dobrik first began posting his vlogs, they were quickly picked up by his audience and soon became viral. As he continued to post them, his popularity increased, leading to numerous controversies and scandals, including a sexual assault allegation in 2018 from a woman who appeared in Dobrik’s vlogs.

These controversies led to many of Dobrik’s followers taking to social media to voice their anger. This was especially true after the accident that occurred while Dobrik and his crew were filming a video in Slovakia.

This accident was a major setback for Dobrik, but it did not stop him from continuing to upload videos to his YouTube account. He also continued to attract the attention of other social media influencers, which resulted in him getting several lucrative sponsorship deals.

In addition, he reportedly bought a $9.5 million mansion in Sherman Oaks, California. This was a huge step up from the $800,000 apartment he had previously lived in.

While Dobrik’s controversies have hurt him greatly, he is still a popular YouTube star with millions of loyal fans. He has 18.3 million subscribers, and he even has his own show on Discovery+.

The documentary looks back on the two biggest controversies that have plagued Dobrik, the sexual assault and the near-fatal accident with his friend Jeff Wittek. The doc will reveal how these events affected Dobrik and how he responded to them.

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David Dobrik is one of the most popular YouTube vloggers, and his videos are always a hit with viewers. He has millions of subscribers and a large following on social media as well. He has recently been in the news because of his controversies.

When Casey Neistat, a filmmaker who has been making YouTube docu-series, set out to make this documentary, he was looking to explore the reckless situations that Dobrik’s entourage willingly puts themselves in for the sake of his videos. But the story took a sharp turn last March when a woman named Kat Tenbarge reported that Dom Zeglaitis, one of Dobrik’s friends and an official member of the Vlog Squad, was accused of rape.

The story sparked outrage, but Dobrik pushed it aside, claiming that he didn’t think the news article was fair and that he had no intention of facilitating or profiting from the alleged sexual assault. But it didn’t end there: Another member of the Vlog Squad, Jeff Wittek, suffered serious injuries in a stunt in June 2020 that he and Dobrik were both involved in.

That incident drew the attention of the public and led to an investigation by the FBI, which determined that Dobrik had facilitated a dangerous work environment. His relationship with Wittek has soured, and he even said that they are no longer friends in an Instagram livestream.

Dobrik’s shady business model is based on his ensemble of YouTube creators, the Vlog Squad, who he often films and relies on to carry out his ridiculous stunt-filled videos. They’ll launch motorcycles over shallow pools, duct-tape themselves to walls, and shake their breasts for the camera.

It’s also easy to see why his videos are incredibly successful, and how he has built such a large following. He has an appealing look and friendly enthusiasm, which makes him seem almost innocent in the eyes of his audience. He’s able to get his crew to do just about anything he suggests in order to amuse them and garner views.

In his search for outrageous moments to entertain his audience, Dobrik stages moments he’ll pretend are spontaneous; he cajoles women into stripping and men into humiliating themselves; and he pushes his friends into stunts that clearly invite mortal injury. In Neistat’s hands, these moments amplify Dobrik’s reputation as an irresponsible and potentially criminally negligent celebrity.

Recommendations

The internet is full of recommendations for fans looking to watch Casey Neistat’s upcoming documentary about YouTube star David Dobrik. First screened at South by Southwest in March 2022, the film aims to shed light on Dobrik’s reputation for being both sensational and dangerous – the latter of which resulted in serious injuries for two of his friends.

While the film doesn’t always come down one way or the other, it offers a thoughtful examination of Dobrik’s vlogging habits and the wider culture surrounding YouTube superstars. As it weaves a complex tapestry of power, abuse, and coercion, it also communicates the scale and seriousness of Dobrik’s impact beyond YouTube.

For those interested in seeing a behind-the-scenes look at Dobrik’s life and career, Under the Influence is a must. The director’s interviews with the man and his Vlog Squad prove revealing. He unwittingly captures Dobrik orchestrating his behavior to deceptively appear realistic and natural, a process that often reveals much more about the YouTube sensation than Neistat is willing to let on.

It’s easy to see why Dobrik’s fans are drawn to his videos. His charismatic personality and friendly enthusiasm often give him the appearance of innocence. But Neistat catches glimpses of some of Dobrik’s more dangerous stunts, including one in 2020 that nearly killed his friend Jeff Wittek.

A key part of Dobrik’s success comes from his crew, a group of personal friends known as the Vlog Squad that do everything they can to comply with Dobrik’s demands for content. Their willingness to perform as crude caricatures, amateur stunt people, and supportive hype men is what enables Dobrik to create over-the-top videos that garner millions of views.

In one particularly stomach-turning scene, Dobrik directs his Vlog Squad to perform a series of increasingly wild yet largely harmless acts on a private jet. In a particularly insensitive sequence, Dobrik commands a woman to take off her shirt and shake her breasts for the camera. The action is accompanied by loud applause and shots of vodka being drizzled on the cameraman’s face, all of which makes for an inherently uncomfortable experience.

Final Words

It's been a busy year for David Dobrik, the YouTube sensation who made his name with "aw-shucks" vlogs that captivated viewers. He's now one of the most popular vloggers on the platform with 18 million subscribers and more than 7 billion views. But a few scandals and a falling out with a friend have threatened Dobrik's career and caused major brands to distance themselves from him.

A new documentary from filmmaker Casey Neistat explores Dobrik's toxic culture of extreme antics with his Vlog Squad. It's a group of friends that Dobrik picks up along the way and that he uses to stage over-the-top videos in dangerous situations. It's a group that's hardly a moral compass -- one of its members is an ex-con; another has been accused of sexual assault.

Those are just a few of the scandals that have come out in the past two years. And it's those that Neistat's film looks at in depth, documenting how Dobrik and his crew have resorted to putting their lives on the line for the sake of a click.

The documentary opens with a clip from Dobrik's earliest Vines, which he filmed in his early teens and were far more dark and aw-shucks than the videos that he's become known for today. He has braces, wears rubber bracelets, and mugs for the camera with his trademark puppyish enthusiasm.

But there's more to his Vines than just the aw-shucks that made him a cult hero in his teens. In one, Dobrik pretends to be disabled in a wheelchair and says the n-word; in another, he chides a friend for saying an Asian joke.

And then there was the incident last June when Dobrik's friend and fellow YouTuber Matthew Wittek was injured when he swung off an excavator that Dobrik was controlling. In the aftermath of the accident, Wittek said he no longer wanted to be friends with Dobrik.

While Dobrik has redeemed himself since then, his reputation still suffers from the damage that was done to him and his friend. Even though it's been a tough couple of years for him, he's finally starting to come into his own as a vlogger. In fact, he's even gained a few million new subscribers.