‘A Man in Full’ Review: Netflix Adaptation Is Empty

“A Man in Full,” the sprawling Tom Wolfe novel now tailored by screenwriter David E. Kelley right into a restricted sequence for Netflix, facilities on a protagonist who, for all his assets, can’t bend the world to his will. Over six episodes, the present finds itself in an identical bind. “A Man in Full” boasts an all-star forged, led by Jeff Daniels as Atlanta actual property tycoon Charlie Croker; an Oscar-winning multi-hyphenate behind the digicam; and a dense lode of supply materials. However the present finally ends up far lower than the sum of its elements, an oddly generic and muted tackle a larger-than-life American story.

Wolfe spent the majority of his profession as a longform journalist earlier than turning to fiction. His first novel, “Bonfire of the Vanities,” was a social satire of Nineteen Eighties New York that helped outline the Wall Road increase’s impression on tradition. (Should you’ve ever described somebody as a “Grasp of the Universe,” you’ve got Wolfe to thank.) For his sophomore effort, Wolfe stored the anthropological lens of a lifelong reporter whereas turning his gaze southward. Like “Bonfire,” “A Man in Full” units the karmic comeuppance of a rich, white businessman in opposition to a backdrop of racial inequality, rank cynicism and political maneuvering. It’s a narrative wealthy with the extent of element that rewards an expanded canvas, very similar to James Clavell’s “Shōgun” and its glorious adaptation that aired earlier this 12 months on FX.

However from such alternative, “A Man in Full” makes a skinny gruel of overheated performances and undercooked commentary. The present begins abruptly, with out a lot to situate us in Charlie’s world in addition to a Shania Twain efficiency at his sixtieth celebration to display his pull. Earlier than the viewers has extra time to orient themselves, they’re thrown into the brewing battle between Charlie and Harry Zale (Invoice Camp), a financial institution govt who’s made it his mission to take Charlie down by demanding fee on $800 million in loans. Charlie and Harry could also be arrange as adversaries in enterprise, however they’re monotonously alike as individuals, each booming ridiculous bits of masculine bravado throughout a convention room desk. “This financial institution rolls to its glory on my again!” Charlie shouts. “A part of being a person is with the ability to kick one other man’s ass,” Harry growls.

If this sounds campy in an satisfying, intentional, “Billions”-adjacent means, the (many) scenes that riff on this motif play disappointingly flat. Regina King, who boasts a deep portfolio of directing credit on prime of her work as an actor, helms three episodes, together with the premiere; Thomas Schlamme, who helped create Aaron Sorkin’s well-known walk-and-talk model on “The West Wing,” takes the opposite half. Regardless of the pair’s filmographies, the look of “A Man in Full” is overlit and unspecific. There’s neither the sense of place one would possibly crave from an inherently Southern story nor the luxurious extra one expects from a “Succession”-esque saga of obscene wealth in terminal decline. Worst of all, the tone is bizarrely missing within the maximalist humor that helped Wolfe craft so many indelible scenes. The result’s an odd mismatch between the present itself — inert, straight-faced — and the remoted bits of Wolfe-ian absurdity that survive. Correct nouns like Turpmtime (a quail-hunting plantation Charlie insists on calling an “eco-lodge”) and Raymond Peepgrass (Harry’s deputy on the financial institution, performed by Tom Pelphrey) don’t belong within the prosaic drama they’re now caught in.

Apart from slimming down the plot to slot in simply 5 hours of display screen time, “A Man in Full” additionally brings the motion to the current day. (Wolfe revealed the novel in 1998.) The shift appears designed so as to add modern resonance to subplots centered on a neighborhood mayoral election and the prison justice system, respectively. Croker’s authorized fixer Roger White (Aml Ameen) bridges each, advising incumbent mayor Wes Jordan (William Jackson Harper) in his marketing campaign in opposition to a Trumpian challenger and representing Conrad Hensley (Jon Michael Hill), the husband of Charlie’s pregnant assistant, when he’s charged with assaulting a police officer. However the fashionable setting largely serves to make these subplots yet one more try to invoke the problems of the present second with out a lot to distinguish this specific take. Alternatively, dated and retrograde components like Peepgrass getting sued for youngster assist by a Finnish mannequin who sexually coerced him really feel pulled out of time.

If nothing else, “A Man in Full” must be a compelling character examine. However Croker by no means comes into focus as a result of the individuals round him by no means do, both. His ex-wife, Martha (Diane Lane, criminally underused), is an ancillary presence at greatest; we by no means get the sense how she feels about her former associate, nor why she would out of the blue go on some dates with, of all individuals, the dweeby banker Peepgrass. Lucy Liu is in some way much less utilized than Lane as Martha’s buddy Joyce, one other waste of charismatic expertise. And whereas we’re informed Croker’s present partner Serena (Sarah Jones) is shrewder than the trophy she’s typically dismissed as, we’re given few possibilities to see it.

All these vaguely sketched ladies go away the titular man to carry up the present on his personal. Daniels is a justly embellished actor, however his Croker has solely a handful of notes, together with a Foghorn Leghorn accent and reckless machismo. Had been “A Man in Full” to go as all-in on Croker does on ridiculous pomp, there may be a more in-depth match between tone and topic. However as it’s, “A Man in Full” leaves an excessive amount of empty house.

All six episodes of “A Man in Full” at the moment are streaming on Netflix.