Un uomo vero

I have always been a Jeff Daniels fan, but I also looked at him as a middle-of-the-road actor who could do lots of things well but nothing outstanding. The Purple Rose of Cairo, Fly Away Home, Pleasantville, Terms of Endearment, and of course Dumb and Dumber all are some of my favorite movies he was in.

But here in this six-part miniseries, set in Atlanta, he is the central character and the whole project depends on how well he channels Charlie Croker, and he does it admirably, and with both lots of menace and lots of humor.

Charlie, just turning 60, is a former Georgia Tech football star. He has developed himself into a big businessman who never shies away from debt. As this story starts he owes one bank $800 Million, and several smaller ones a few hundred million additional. Along the way he has made a few friends but also a few enemies and now some want to take him down, foreclose on his assets, see him bankrupt.

But if Charlie is nothing else, he is a fighter. The whole series is mostly about his enemies trying to get the best of him while Charlie fends off the attacks.

This is definitely an adult show, lots and lots of cursing and at least a couple of very graphic simulated sex scenes, but overlaid on all that is a very funny and entertaining presentation.

My wife and I watched it, streaming, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

BTW, if anyone still doesn't know, Jeff Daniels is a talented guitarist, song writer, and singer. For a good example do a web search on the four words "jeff daniels kelly clarkson", watch the video and you might be amazed.

Charlie Croker sits at the top of his business empire, but it's crumbling, debts are being called in, and the vultures circle. In a position of relative weakness, Charlie is played by those in power.

This series has gained notoriety, mainly for a flash in episode six, but there's been a lot of positive chat, and for the most part, it's a decent series.

Episodes one and two build up Charlie as this huge, divisive, charismatic figure, Jeff Daniels plays him perfectly, but as the series develops, the focus comes away from him, and the story meanders somewhat.

Conrad's story takes over, and comes out of nowhere, it really does detract from Charlie's story.

It's watchable enough, I had just hoped for so much more, without the powerhouse performance form Jeff Daniels, I think it would have fallen flat.

Perhaps I should have read the book.

6/10.

This is... not that good to be honest. The script is uneven and pretty flat, and if you've seen enough films in your day you will be able to predict a lot of what is going to happen.

Some events are pretty interesting, especially when the story ventures into the absurd, like the coupling of horses scenes or the infamous scene in the last episode, but other than that this feels pretty procedural.

The only thing that really hooked me was the prison storyline, that felt genuine and interesting all the way, and I always enjoy seeing Anthony Heald as well.

Jeff Daniels carries this show on his shoulders and he does his best, dominating the scenes he is in with his enormous presence and charisma. But it is clear for all to see that he is severely limited in his performance when the script is not up to it.

It was interesting to note the script for this new limited series was written by David E. Kelley, the guy responsible or who'd participated in so many series over the years. A lot were vanilla but all very watchable.

This one was very watchable, and thankfully no messing around with incremental releasing of episodes, so we're able to binge the whole thing now if we wish. My style for sure.

It's not as representative of the "underbelly" of political goings on in Atlanta as I'd had hoped, or America for that matter. It sort of forgot about itself on the way and ended up too vanilla. And it then has an ending. Which is good. Most series don't.

Most importantly, I did appreciate some of the unmistakable nods to the current political situation in the USA in very small ways which hit the mark and made me smile each time. When you watch, or if you've seen it, you'll know what I mean. Funny. I hope there's more of this type of thing coming on films soon. We need more humour.

Not sure what this show is it's like a setup for the ending which is just dumb.

Everyone is good in this show the writing is ok directing ok the plot starts out interesting and it builds up and the climax is an anticlimax it's odd way to end the show thought .

The struggles of the rich and the not so rich and the people in between .

Racism and corruption and power and greed and jealousy and weak men and strong men .

The women they love and leave and the relationships they have now .

Robotic knees and loss of control getting old but wanting to remain strong and powerful .

How could any of this end well ? It doesn't ,