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The Stormy Daniels' Doc 'Stormy' Is Big on Attitude but Light on Revelations

By Dustin Rowles | Film | March 20, 2024 |

By Dustin Rowles | Film | March 20, 2024 |


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There are several trials currently pending against Donald Trump, one of which is a criminal prosecution against the former President over hush-money payments he made to adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about a sexual encounter. He is facing 34 counts in the trial, expected to begin in mid-April.

Daniels is a significant figure in that case, and yesterday, a judge gave Daniels and Trump’s former fixer, Michael Cohen, permission to testify against Trump over the objections of his defense. The trial will hopefully conclude a years-long saga that began with Trump’s brief affair with Stormy Daniels only four months after Melania Trump gave birth to their son.

Peacock’s documentary movie Stormy tracks the developments in her life since the affair and the subsequent hush-money payments, and if the media had not breathlessly reported every facet of Daniels’ involvement with Trump, the documentary might be revelatory. As it stands, Donald Trump himself has not only normalized illicit affairs between Presidential candidates and adult film stars, he’s rendered them boring. Stormy is not immune.

Indeed, save for the divorce and custody drama between Daniels and an ex-husband, little here will be new to people who regularly watch the news. Daniels details her sexual encounter with Trump — it was unpleasant, he didn’t ask, but she concedes that she didn’t say no — and the nightmare of chaos that has plagued her life ever since. Yes, she was able to parlay some of that newfound attention toward a tour, a book deal, and an appearance on SNL, but she also endured death threats, separation from her daughter, and her attorney, Michael Avanetti, even ripped her off (and is currently serving four years in prison for doing so).

Seth Rogen and Jimmy Kimmell make appearances to speak on Stormy’s behalf. Otherwise, the only information in the documentary that most of us don’t already know is that Daniels owes $600,000 to Donald Trump because a court ordered her to pay his legal fees after a defamation suit she brought against the former President over a tweet failed. It’s sickening to think that, after everything that Donald Trump has put Stormy Daniels through, she may have to file bankruptcy and lose her home because of him, too. The kicker is that, according to Daniels, Avanetti filed the defamation suit without her permission. Daniels may have sex on camera for a living, but it is away from the set where men continue to screw her.

‘Stormy’ premiered at the 2024 SXSW Film and TV Festival. It is now streaming on Peacock.