Florida Man

As a current resident of Central Florida, who was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, where this show was filmed, I can honestly say this is a very accurate depiction of both places. Dive bars, quirky people, boats beer and good fun. All of the marina scenes are filmed on the Sound and the intercoastal in Wilmington. Brings me back to my youth. You can almost smell the salt air like you were crabbing with hot dogs off the dock.

The story is smart and clever, with a lot of twists and turns. The anti-hero main character has a dynamic arc abs leaves the audience wanting more. Best thing Netflix has put out in a while.

Mike Valentine is a former Philadelphia cop; his gambling problems led to him losing his job and his wife and having to work off his debts to local mobster Moss Yankov. One day Moss's girlfriend, Delly West, takes off in her new BMW and heads to Florida. Moss tasks Mike with bringing her back. He doesn't know that Mike is from Florida and for family reasons would rather not go back. Things soon get interesting for Mike and those around him as he gets caught up in a tangled story involving the missing girlfriend, a father he dislikes and a search for a possible fortune in Spanish gold!

I thought this series was a lot of fun. If you like your crime drama gritty and serious it won't be for you but if you enjoy it with plenty of laughs and don't mind if it stretches your suspension of disbelief more than a little bit you should really enjoy this. Every episode provided sufficient laughs and the characters were a lot of fun. The cast was solid, especially Édgar Ramírez as Mike; Anthony LaPaglia as his father Sonny and Abbey Lee as Delly. The series manages to wrap things up nicely in its seven episode run so viewers aren't left waiting to see further seasons. It won't be for everybody of course; there is quite a lot of swearing and some sex and violence so the easily offended might want to give it a miss. Overall I'd certainly recommend this for fans of crime comedy.

Florida Man Netflix series with 7 episodes, featuring Mike (played by Edgar Ramírez), a former police officer who resigned due to gambling addiction. He must return to his hometown in Florida to search for his girlfriend, Delly (played by Abbey Lee), the daughter of a mafia boss in Florida. The search turns into a journey filled with suspicion from everyone involved, and involves an ancient gold coin treasure hidden in Florida.

Overall, this is a dark comedy series that may not look interesting from the outside. The protagonist's appearance may not be charming, but believe it or not, this is a dark comedy story filled with thrilling games. The characters are all significant and interconnected with hilarious and unexpected situations. The series also weaves in stories of love and family relationships well. Moreover, it is a well-crafted mini-series that is beautifully wrapped up in just seven episodes.

Overall for me the show was a pleasant suprise and a fun ride. The plot, acting and dialogue are all well done. That being said there are number of times certain suspenssion of disbelief is required, but this is fortunately easilly doable as the show works so well as a whole.

I think the length is an issue both ways. As a movie this would have felt too rushed. Now the 7 ep's lenght makes it have few too many plot twists and suprises that needlessly go back and forth. And of course the inevitability of a 2nd season means that the conclusion has to be written open and vague enough to allow the possibility to continue the story.

This is not a heavy or involved criminal / treasure hunt flick. You could say it is a first draft of Body Heat, Fool's Gold with a pinch of an Errol Fylnn and a dollop of Burt Reynolds. It has the usual tropes of romance, detective work, wasted cop, father/son friction and expected twists. It is not an Emmy award candidate and it has no such aspirations. The series is good simple storytelling akin to the old TV series like Colombo, McCloud, MacMillan and Wife.

It's the right series to entertain you when your brain is fried and you are exhausted. So.get out your popcorn, have some white wine, cuddle and enjoy.