Through the HBO Max documentary Call Me Miss Cleo, the world was courteously reintroduced to one of the most iconic television personalities of the mid-to-late 1990s. Wielding a highly dramatized Jamaican accent that a lot of her viewers thought was genuine, a big and boisterous woman by the name of Miss Cleo urged both early morning and late night viewers to call in and get their supposedly free tarot card reading as soon as possible.

With the domineering hands of a powerful nationwide company putting her into the spotlight, Youree Dell Harris would become a television sensation and become an invaluable asset to those who sought out spiritual mentorship. Being parodied by many other celebrities throughout the years including the comedian Dave Chappelle, she has left a legacy for years to come, and by using numerous interviews from her friends, family, and past lovers, this new documentary helps to shed some light on this once enigmatic and mystifying personality.

The Crew Behind The Documentary Has Covered Other '90s Icons

Miss Cleo reading
HBO Max

HBO Max is still quite the newcomer to the streaming world when compared to the likes of Netflix and Hulu, but the platform is already a top contender when it comes to the documentary genre. Releases like Pelosi In The House, which is a multi-decade look into the speaker of the House produced by her very own daughter, and The Murdochs: Empire of Influence, an episodic exploration that dives into Rupert Murdoch’s corrupt legacy. Upholding the standard of its predecessors, this feature was put together by the production companies Dial Tone Films and Gunpowder and Sky, and directed by Celia Aniskovich and Jennifer Brea.

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Dial Tone Films has created such works like Beanie Mania, which explores the disastrous trend of the '90s regarding stuffed animals, and Twas’ The Fight Before Christmas, a real-life account about a man’s fight against his homeowner association regarding his over-the-top Christmas-themed lawn setup. Gunpowder and Sky, on the other hand, has an upcoming Paramount Plus title slated for release called Sometimes When We Touch, which takes a dive into all the musical entities surrounding the deep rock musical genre.

Call Me Miss Cleo Deconstructs The Psychic In The Best Way

Miss Cleo with her friend
HBO Max

Besides recounting Ms. Harris’ long and winding fight against the disgraceful Psychic Readers Network, who she once worked for and later tried taking advantage of her name and character in the name of profit, the documentary revolving around Youree Dell Harris also takes a look inside her once hidden personal life. It balances a well-narrated story between her troubled, and sometimes even traumatic childhood, with joyous parts later on, such as when Ms. Harris found happiness once more within the LGBTQ+ community.

The film states that she was adopted into a California-based family when she was a little girl. Ms. Harris was then sent to a straight-and-narrow religious all-girls boarding school where she didn’t exactly fit in and felt awkward much of the time.

Feeling misconstrued and even misunderstood by her peers, she found her confidence once again in playing an extravagant Caribbean-based fortune-teller whom the world knows best for a theater production. She then decided to carry this same fictional personality to a job listing, reading fortunes over the phone was the name of the game.

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Over time, this manufactured personality started to overwhelm her own natural character and while the documentary respectively does not spend too much time on this sensitive topic, it does let viewers in on the fact that this crucial flaw might have been the reason why Harris ended up developing multiple personalities that she called upon when she needed a coping mechanism.

Slowly finding her strength and unique bravado once more in a friend’s very openly LGBTQ+ friendly coffee shop called Mother Earth, as well as becoming an activist in Broward County, Florida regarding the fight for equal rights, the filmmakers highlight this inspirational turnaround in such a way to show that no matter the odds stacked against you, your light will always find a way to become bright once more.

Emphasized in interviews with actresses such as Raven-Symoné and MADtv alum Debra Wilson, who both share the same sentiment, you could believe Youree Dell Harris to be whoever you wanted her to be, but she had a way of connecting with people that nobody else did. Even though she passed away in July 2016 at the age of 53 due to metastasized colorectal cancer, she will never be forgotten for standing up to struggles that she personally faced as well as helping others get through theirs.

You will most definitely be inspired when you choose to watch Call Me Miss Cleo on HBO Max. As the wondrous and high-spirited woman was known to say, you might just go and catch a fire afterward.