Monkey business: ‘Tiger King’ director Eric Goode’s ‘Chimp Crazy’ is a compelling look at clueless humans and angry animals

By Bob Grimm

Oh, those chimpanzees. They’re so cute for the first part of their lives—until they want to rip people’s faces off because they’re super-disgusted with being confined in cages by clueless owners throwing bottles of Powerade at them.

Tonia Haddix, who fancies herself as the Dolly Parton of chimp ladies, is a real-life keeper of chimps and monkeys, despite no formal training. When People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) demands she turn over all of her chimps for relocation to a more-suitable environment, and then one of her chimps goes missing, all sorts of monkey business ensues.

Haddix is interviewed and followed around by a film crew—but the whole documentary is secretly directed by somebody she doesn’t like. She is rather open about her chimp obsessions, offering real insight into somebody who is essentially breaking the law. Director Eric Goode also made Tiger King, so he’s no stranger to the exotic pet underworld.

On top of Haddix’s own chimp and monkey stories, Goode delves into other events, like the well-known tragedy involving a chimp that tore his baby-sitter’s face off, and another that resulted in a beloved chimp going violently nuts and meeting an unfair end. All of these incidents involve humans who have no fucking clue what they are doing.

The through line here is that the animals are suffering from a form of abuse, no matter how many Happy Meals their clueless owners give them, and Goode never shies away from these facts.

Actor Alan Cumming, who starred in a movie with Tonka, one of the main chimps in this story, appears in Chimp Crazy as somebody who once enjoyed his experience with a young, adorably happy chimp, but now has regrets that it ever happened.

This insane series is three episodes in, with one to go, and there’s a good mystery that will keep you coming back. I really am looking forward to the final episode, being released on Sunday, Sept. 8, to see how things will end up for the animals and the devious Haddix.

Chimp Crazy is streaming on HBO Max.