Behind the adorable blonde hair and sweet, innocent-girl smile lies a checkered and intriguing past in Joyce McKinney's life. Errol Morris's Tabloid is one of the most mature documentaries I've ever witnessed. The documentarian who is known for making very deep and personal stories goes out of his way to shed light on a scandal that hasn't gotten much talk or publicity in recent years. But maybe that is for the best.

In 1977, a young Mormon missionary named Kirk Anderson was abducted by an unknown woman from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Ewell, Surrey. A few days later, he returned claiming he was kidnapped by a woman named Joyce McKinney, a young woman who was crowned Miss Wyoming, who attempted to seduce him and rape him while he lay bounded on a bed.

McKinney was arrested, and the case was dubbed "The Mormon sex in chains case." It was shocking and absurd for the time period as well. Keep in mind that back in the 1970's, Mormonism was thought to be more of a strange cult than a religion. Society wasn't as accepting as today, and that's why people were so quick to jump over everyone involved.

When conducting interviews with numerous people, Morris doesn't dare interrupt. It's a one-setting documentary involving Errol Morris's famous "Interrotron " method. The Interrotron is where Morris places a two way mirror in front of the camera so both parties can see each others faces. It's a way of pretending the camera doesn't exist or isn't really there. This method is used to try and get more out of the person and not have the eerie feeling of being filmed while discussing.

But I don't believe Joyce McKinney or anyone else in the film really cares that they're being filmed. I think they're so flattered that they're finally telling their side of the story. Why did I call this "on of the most mature documentaries I've ever witnessed?" Because Morris doesn't incorporate any opinion or stance within the film. He doesn't even state if he believes the characters are telling the truth or not. He just wants each person to tell their side of the story the way they feel it should be told.

It's also interesting to note that the music in the documentary is so radiant and so important to the storytelling in the film. Never do we really pay attention or notice the music in a documentary, but the tonality in Tabloid is depicted strongly throughout the background music. After all, the film doesn't move around too much. It's shot in a one-setting location against a gray backdrop with the characters talking one on one with the camera.

We see montages from older films, reenactments of certain key events, and little animated tabloid pictures compiled into a creative montage to tell certain parts of the story. The film is titled "Tabloid" because Joyce McKinney began to develop into a popular figure publicized in magazines. So many stories were published about her that the truth became distorted. She states honestly and chillingly in the documentary "a person can tell a lie so many times that they believe it's true." You will definitely leave Tabloid confused and curious. We learned so much, but how much of it is true? We may never really know. I personally believe most everything brought to the table here, but then again, the lack of evidence on McKinney's part perplexes me. It is explained at the end where all the evidence went, but the believability is highly questionable.

According to Former Missionary Troy Williams, the story of the Mormon sex in chains case has been brought to light in three scenarios. Scenario one he was chloroformed, tied up, raped, and forced to be the sex slave of McKinney. Otherwise known as Kirk's side of the story. Scenario two is Joyce McKinney's side of the story where she wanted Kirk to be "free" of the Mormon's ways. So she "rescued" him from the church and they planned to run off, have kids, and life a life of peace. Scenario three is a hybrid of the two. Where Joyce and Kirk planned a life together, but somewhere along the line he refused it and backed out.

Joyce McKinney's last time in the light before this film was when she hired a Korean doctor to clone her own dog "Booger" after his death. McKinney even states in the film that she herself believes it strange that a person could go from someone who "kidnaps a Mormon man and uses him as a sex slave" to someone who hires a person to clone her own dog.

McKinney now resides in the mountain ranges of North Carolina living a life of celibacy, solitude, and peace from the people and the press. Maybe that's for the best on both parts. Here we have a woman who has spent most of her life in the spotlight for such a shady case, maybe it's time to just let her rest.

Tabloid is one of 2011's best documentaries, but the subject matter will have a lot of potential viewers looking the other way. Ignore the subject matter, just dive into the film hoping to see a very thought-provoking, well made, serious documentary made by a filmmaker who knows how to dish out a very personal story. The film's way of style and tonality is beautifully crafted, and erects one of the most shocking yet intriguing sex scandals in history.

Starring: Joyce McKinney and Troy Williams. Directed by: Errol Morris.

"Tabloid" is a film about Joyce McKinney--an ex-beauty queen who drew international attention when she was arrested in the UK for kidnapping her ex-boyfriend and supposedly forcing him to have sex with her. While some of the details are fuzzy and open to various interpretations, the bottom line is that McKinney escaped from custody and the case was eventually dropped. Part of the film chronicles this but the bulk of it simply consists of McKinney talking about the case and herself (and MOSTLY herself) in the decades following this weird incident. Much of the time, McKinney talks about how tabloids and the Mormons have destroyed her life. All I could CLEARLY see was that this lady seemed to love having the spotlight on her once again.

In the past, I have enjoyed Errol Morris' documentaries and really respected them. However, with "Tabloid", it sure seems like Morris has taken a huge step backward when it comes to his Oscar-winning reputation. Not only has he made a film that had a lot of flaws, but it gave a HUGE platform for a very dysfunctional woman*--a woman who ate up all the attention that was heaped on her for all the wrong reasons. By this same standard, you could also make documentaries with the help of various murderers, pedophiles and the like--many would LOVE the attention but you also wonder about the morality of letting these leaches have this platform. What about all the people they'd hurt? Isn't it rather insensitive to their victims as well as doing society a disservice to make such films?! And, if this lady is NOT evil and wasn't involved in an actual kidnapping, then why make a film where it seems designed to get people to laugh at her and her pathetic life?! Either angle seems very wrong--especially since McKinney seemed to have severe personality disorders.

*She seems to have a Borderline Personality with Narcissistic and Dependent features--based on my own experiencing working as a psychotherapist--and as such, really was rife to be exploited by Morris because of her pathological need for attention. However, without conducting an exhaustive interview, this is only a best guess. Regardless, she is NOT a healthy person and someone who you would want to encourage or exploit.

Joyce McKinney grew up in small town North Carolina. She's smart. She's a former Miss Wyoming. When she moved to Utah, she falls for Kirk Anderson and becomes obsessed with him. He's a Mormon which Joyce considers a cult. She claims that the Mormon church had abducted her fiancé Kirk and sent to England. She, accomplices Keith Joseph May and Gil Parker hire pilot Jackson Shaw to fly to England to rescue Kirk Anderson. Gil and Jackson back out but Joyce and Keith abduct Kirk for three days of sex and fun. They go back to London to get marry. Kirk reads about his own kidnapping. He leaves Joyce and tells the police about the kidnapping. In 1977, he becomes the Manacled Mormon and tabloid fodder after Joyce is charged with abducting and imprisoning Kirk.

It's too strange to be true. Director Errol Morris has his classic off-camera voice asking the questions. It's a fascinating true story that the tabloids rightly printed. A couple of things do hold it back slightly. In the end, this is a small story and it's hard to dig deeper than what Joyce allows us to know. This movie needs to have Kirk because he's the only person to counter what she's saying. Is she crazy or is she in love? That's the central question. Maybe she's a bit of both. The story is funny and insane but it's essentially a light weight story.