Ask E. Jean Review – Shocking, Surprising, Engrossing

Details

Category: Indies, Docs, Foreign Film

Published on Tuesday, 19 May 2026 12:07

Written by Janet Walker

Ask E. Jean, from Abramorama, Impact Partners, and Theorem Mediam, presents an intriguing and sensational documentary on the life of celebrated writer, and activist, E. Jean Carroll, who, through attorney Roberta Kaplan, secured two judgements against President Trump.

By now, one would have needed to live under a rock to not know the name E. Jean Carroll. For New Yorkers, the name and on air personality goes back to the 1980s, when the effervescent Carroll had her own on-air weekly "Ask E. Jean," show; a part self-help, part straight-talk, motivating extension of her syndicated column that had been featured in most of the women's print magazines.

Nobu Review – A Captivating, Enlightening Documentary, A Must See

We also meet the story behind the celebrated writer, who happened, by chance, to write something interesting from her outside of the bubble view of the world, and sent it to one of the women's magazines, who fell in love with her down-to-earth brashness.

Soon she was a celebrated writer, traveling with Hunter S. Thompson and other literary giants, and dishing out advice in an age when women were becoming independent. She was living the literati dream of the 1980s, when Elaine's (do you need to ask?), was the gathering place for a who's who across media, literary, entertainment, and politics.

One need only to look across the room and see those whom you admired and those who admired you, and as we discover, it was at Elaine's where E. Jean met her husband, John Johnson, the local ABC news anchor. The pair became an "it" couple, without even trying.

Unidentified Review – A Mind-Bending, Shocking, Psychological Thriller

Louder Than Guns Review – Thought-Provoking, Poignant, A Must See

It was during this time she met the then New York developer Donald Trump, as synonymous with New York as Fifth Avenue, and having just survived the brutalities of a marriage break-up, he and his second wife, Marla Maples, where photographed with Johnson, and E.J.

When the documentary moves into the "incident," Carroll is being deposed and we see her personality fade, and she recalls the event. While one can't see the walls close in, it is obvious, as she recounts in deposition, the events leading up to the rape the trauma comes rushing back, rendering her not quite mute, but drowning.

She meets one of her remaining friends from back in the day, and she recalls the only conversation about the rape, she told this one person and never spoke about it again, until now, decades later. She didn't have the rape test, never reported the crime to the police, or sought justice.

Killing Grounds: The Gilgo Beach Murders Review – A Binge Worthy, Taken From the Headlines, Crime Drama

She, like a vinyl album with a deep grove skip, she skipped over it and went on with her life. And besides, justice? Really? Who gets justice for rape crimes? Even with the Rape Kit test, the police, detectives and a demand for justice, prosecution is rare? Too difficult to secure a victory, unless it is stranger rape and even then it is a long shot.

We also see the president being deposed, and identifying E. Jean, as his then wife, Marla Maples. As the documentary ends, we hear the now infamous live comments Trump made regarding women, and when he meets a beautiful woman he has no control, he will kiss them or "grab their pussy."

Roberta Kaplan, the attorney who E. Jean often credits as a champion in this case, is featured prominently and seems to be legitimately interested in righting the gross injustice.

Granted the victories, while legitimate, are mostly symbolic in that E. Jean Carroll has not received any of the money awarded her.

Omaha Review – Poignant Drama Delivers Powerhouse Performances

Ask E. Jean is an engrossing documentary not only of the woman who had the courage to hold the leader of the free world accountable for crimes he committed, even knowing the blowback would cause a lesser soul to retreat, she held her ground and forced him to stop defaming her and sparking a national conversation about truth, accountability, and resilience.

The documentary also presents the charismatic moments in her life, the buoyant storytelling when we see the before, the lively, energetic, vivacious woman and the aftermath of what she lost and the scorched earth remains.

This film is a portrait of an indomitable woman who proved it's never too late to reclaim your voice, rewrite your story, and change the world.

Ask E. Jean opens in theater exclusively May 22. It is a must see.

Kangaroo Island Review – Breathtaking Cinematography, Excellent Story Driven Performances

Country: U.S.

Language: English.

Runtime: 91 minutes.

Director: Ivy Meeropol.

Producer: Laura Bickford, Annabelle Dunne, Ivy Meeropol

Executive Producer: Alexia Blaze, Graydon Carter, Whitney Dow, Geralyn White Dreyfous, Ruth Ann Harnisch, Emily Bickford Lansbury, Sheila Nevins, Jenny Raskin, Mitch Solomon, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Jenny Warburg.

Writer: Leah Goudsmit, Ivy Meeropol, Ferne Pearlstein.

Featuring: Lisa Birnbach, E. Jean Carroll, Roberta Kaplan.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She has also published "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," and "Days, Times, Seasons, and Events: A Collection of Poetry & Prose," which can be purchased here. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a member of the International Federation of Journalists.