A Man in Full (2024) User Reviews

Disappointing ending

[mabel-68973 · 6/10 · 9 May 2024]

The series builds up the story and characters pretty good. As tensions rise it's hard to know on which side you stand.

Acting by Jeff Daniels is superb.

And Tom Pelphery manages to make you see his POV and hate him at the same time.

I was just about to say what a great series it was, when the last episode ruined the whole series for me.

Not only was it 100% Deusex Machina but the last 10 minutes was a crude amateur-like attempt to surprise the watcher with an end twist.

It almost felt as if the last episode and specially the last 10 minutes of the series were written by a different person or team, one without experience.

Unlike excellent twists such as in The Usual Suspects or in Fight Club, this "twist" was so unlikely and ridiculous it not only fails to surprise but mocks the development.

I was so unimpressed and angered by the ending that the last 10 minutes de series went from a solid 9 to a 5. From a "you guys have to watch this!" to a "don't even bother".

Such a pity that the great acting and initial story was ruined by the last episode.

You have to Watch More Than the first Episode, People

[dowaliby3-1 · 8/10 · 3 May 2024]

To see what you're being offered. Put the accents aside. Somewhere in the middle of this series - we're not looking at the problems of One Southern Man from the Past. We are being invited to look deeper - into the lives of real people in today's Atlanta, today's America.

The fluidity with which black and white characters interact - some color blind, others finely tuned, exquisitely conscious of every nuance. This is quietly striking - a surprise that lifts this story beyond standard television fare.

And finally - you have a stellar cast all embedded in their roles - inhabiting them - but gradually transcending them as the series proceeds. Without this ensemble - stunningly directed - this story would be perfect Tom Wolfe fiction: effective, compelling but odd-angled, perspectives altered for dramatic effect.

Luckily, we're treated to something more important: a mirror on our lives today. David Kelly has never been more present, less humorous, textured.

And whatever minor qualms we might have about accents, Jeff Daniels grounds the whole story by making a larger than life, borderline ridiculous anachronism the medium for telling this enticing series. Just sit back and enjoy it. It's a gift.

Not the best adaptation

[theowlofthegame · 6/10 · 9 May 2024]

Once again we have a case of 'the book is better than the film/miniseries'.

I've read the book twice, and believe me, the book is better than this 6 episodes series.

My biggest critique about the mini series is that the dialogues are really poor, and of little substance. And thus not believable. Short scenes with few information are put behind each other. This also means that we don't get much to know about the main protagonists, nor about how Charlie Croker ended up in such financial perils.

It is strange to see that a man so affluent as Charlie Croker has not many staff members (1 attorney, 1 secretary and 1 accountant). It is strange to see when he shows up at decisive meetings he doesn't have a lot to say, but huff and bluff and puff. Same goes for the bank accountants too actually. Their case is not well built up. These business scenes don't come across as very believable. It all feels a bit grotesque, cartoonesque... The best episode is the last episode, in which there is a long court scene in which the attorney brings a strong plea for justice, and later a memorable speech of Charlie in Georgia Tech Stadium. There should have been more scenes like this. Maybe my expectiations were a bit too high, but I was a bit dissapointed all in all.

WTF did I just watch?

[anth-2 · 6/10 · 5 May 2024]

This limited series was something that should have been great. 3 A-List actors, a B+ (Sarah Jones *sigh*), and plenty of excellent character actors. The story was solid, the characters believable and interesting, yet it had the dumbest last scene imaginable that seemed to end the series before it had even gotten through the second act.

Maybe it was because the show was based on a Tom Wolfe novel, and it worked better in the written word. Or perhaps the translation to the small screen was Ill fated to not be a good one. But at this point, whoever green lights scripts at Netflix should be fired.

Good entertainment.

[ellipseanostalrius · 7/10 · 4 May 2024]

A director, a script, and decent actors. There you go.

I see some people in here whining about how it isn't factually accurate. ? This isn't a documentary, it's entertainment. Clearly it departed from the book too and that's ok.

Entertain me.

Some might find the use of interweaved storylines confusing. Personally, I appreciated that approach.

Were the court scenes far from what would have happened? Sure. So were the banker's meetings, but the barbs thrown in those banker's meetings were effing hilarious.

Jeff Daniels does his usual work. I'm not a fan of Lucy Lui, but I liked her in this movie. Diane Lane was ok, not terrific.

Direction just pushed the story along, fine. Script was tight. Lots of laughs. The "serious stuff" was a little off but made for an interesting counterpoint.

The only thing I'd complain about was the easy-way-out ending, but that's fine.

Looking for entertainment? This fits the bill. Want to relive your life's experiences in Atlanta, or watch a documentary about real estate development, this isn't for you.

Entertaining binge

[TR604 · 7/10 · 5 May 2024]

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.

Forgettable

[rklemm05 · 6/10 · 4 May 2024]

I recently saw a Youtube review of this, where the critic asked "why should I care about the characters involved?".

I felt exactly that. Not that it's bad, but a bit bland, not really engaging. Like something you see from the corner of your eye without feeling the need to pay too much attention.

Jeff Daniel's southern accent seems unnatural, wheezy, overkill. Maybe if we hadn't seen him in many other movies and didn't know about his actual accent, it would have worked but not here.

In a nutshell, I'd stay the storyline is a bit static. The secondary plot about Conrad (basically: How a relatively small incident can create a chain reaction and have insane repercussions on one's life) is more interesting than the main one, but obviously takes a back seat, which is unfortunate.

Perfection!

[salliegroo · 10/10 · 4 May 2024]

If Tom Wolfe were alive he would love this adaptation! All the smarts and wit and hilarious characterizations, pushing the envelope just like Wolfe himself. Wolfe is the master of hyperbole and satire and it is realized here to perfection. If you know Tom Wolfe's work you know that over-the-top expression is what makes it so funny. David Kelly & Co. Completely get that and deliver it with almost perfect casting, writing and directing, unlike dePalma's The Bonfire of the Vanities which took itself way too seriously. Well, it's all here folks. A delectable adaptation of Wolfe's always delectable style. What Bonfire couldn't do for Wolfe, Man in Full does! And I am celebrating!

[As for the negative reviews, I would say there is a lot questionable nitpicking (Daniel's accent? Not perfect, but UNBEARABLE? C'mon!) and umbrage taken at political incorrectness and taking license with reality and the book. It's fiction. It's not supposed to be real! It's a an adaptation, it can't cover the whole book in a limited series. Moreover, it's SATIRE! It's not supposed to be nice or real or politically correct--It's supposed to be funny! What makes this adaptation a success is that unlike other attempts at bringing Wolfe to the screen, is this series captures Wolfe's TONE--the over-the-top, painfully hilarious and KILLER lampoons from the incontestable MASTER of Satire! I would say that anyone who doesn't get this series, is taking things a little too seriously...and should look up the meaning of the word "hyperbole."

On the current streaming scale, not bad

[imfieldingmellish · 7/10 · 6 May 2024]

Having seen some real dogs on Hulu and Netflix recently (seriously, there's some real dreck these days) this was not great but not terrible. The Jeff Daniels story line was interesting, while the police brutality storyline was trite and predictable. I wasn't sure who to root against as between the clueless tycoon and the nasty bankers. It was an interesting selection of really awful people all around. Plus the show never really explains a few things: why exactly is one of the bankers living in a cheap apartment and driving a clunker? He's a banker after all. And why exactly is this bank going after this guy with no mercy when there seems to be no impetus whatsoever for them to do so.

But the highlight of the series has to be the plastic erect phallus that was amongst the most impressive movie props since Dirk Diggler.

The End WTF

[celt007 · 5/10 · 6 May 2024]

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 ,

Not one for me.

[paulwest-226-612844 · 7 May 2024]

I agree with an earlier comment, but I did not give this a 1. I so wanted to love this show as well, having waiting a long time for it to available, but agree that It's barely entertaining.

Jeff Daniels character is too over the top and the accent is poor (IMHO).

The story did not hold together all the way through and I agree that all the side stories did not add to the plot, or support it, or were even properly tied in to it (not in an engaging way, anyway).

A good supporting cast, some decent performances and believable, but failed by the writing. The ending is really poor.

It does seem like the people who made this were out of step with audiences. There are better series out there. This is one to miss.

Entertaining but a disservice to the novel'

[johnc_22 · 6/10 · 6 May 2024]

I found the series to be entertaining and fairly well done, and it was good to see real Atlanta neighborhoods included, but it really is a shallow interpretation of a sprawling novel that goes very deeply into the characters in this series and what Atlanta was like in the 90's. In some ways the novel was too long, but by the same token this series is kind of too short to do the great parts of the novel justice.

In the book Atlanta and its culture, crime, racism, poverty, wealth and various classes are part of the background and deeply explored. While a bit of this is included in the series, Atlanta is just a setting and not the essence of what made up the novel (if you live here you know).

There are a lot of characters and events completely omitted by the series, and it would have had to be much longer to truly capture it all. The roles and backgrounds of the characters have been somewhat mixed up and mashed together I guess to tell a more entertaining narrative, but again, it's a disservice to a very entertaining novel.

If you enjoyed the series you'll probably really enjoy the novel.

Ridiculously Absurd with an Apparently Stupid Ending

[djlisatodd · 1/10 · 5 May 2024]

I was not aware of the book. Once I was on Ep. 3 I looked up reviews & thankfully came across the summary of the ending which is even dumber than the episodes I watched. Bankers want their money, not assets they have to dispose of later. Why did the banker have such a personal beef with Charlie? Bankers don't act that way. Nobody breeds horses like that anymore & why would he take these people he wanted money from to his ranch to show them horses breeding anyway?! And catching a coiled DBack bare handed is something experienced snake Ranglers don't do without a hook. Like others said Charlie character was over the top and sounded like Foghorn Leghorn. Whenever I looked up reviews & saw "bizarre ending explained" I was out. Do not waste time on this one.

much too condensed ....

[bufordbox · 16 May 2024]

I read the novel when it came out in the mid '90s and enjoyed it very much. This series took a 700something page book and tried to shoehorn it into six 45minute episodes. The result seems disjointed and basically just incomplete. The first episode opens as if it assumes no character development is needed; that all of the viewers are already aqcuainted with the players and how they came to be who we now see. The novel has several sub-plots that intertwine well throughout, but this Netflix series offers us only two which really seem to have little connection with the other, other than some characters moving back and forth between them. My take is the series was budgeted much to small to spend the time and money to do Tom Wolfe's novel the justice it deserves.

From a Georgia boy

[TigerDriveInn · 6/10 · 5 May 2024]

Love Jeff Daniels.

BUT people haven't talked like that in Georgia ever, and I've got a twang. Not to say he's doing a bad job, I just don't think people can do a natural accent of northeastern Georgia accurately unless they have spent time there and really explored it.

Other than that, good acting.

Storyline is a little back and forth. Too many characters that aren't developed early enough. I am a few episodes in, but I feel like there is too little butter over too much bread.

But it is an entertaining show to watch. I have a feeling this show will not live up to some of its counterparts in the same genre.

An entertaining watch with great music!

[Guanche48 · 7/10 · 6 May 2024]

A GREAT performance of Jeff Daniels! And a very entertaining and provoking series.

The six episodes dives into the complexities of American life, money, power, race, win and lose, in ways that repel and captivate. The novel, which I did not know and nor have read, is a satire and I will never compare books with series or movies, they are very different things, like comparing pears with apples.

I think the series lacks a true satirical edge, look at Trump, sometimes he surpasses fiction.

A 'Man in Full' may not be groundbreaking, but it's worth a watch for those interested in an exploration of ambition, wealth, power, and politics.

How to downgrade a great novel

[HLEYE · 6/10 · 4 May 2024]

Tom Wolfe was a great writer, Regina King is a good actress but a mediocre director. She fell for the standard American pitfalls: overacting, caricatures in stead of people, not one person seems really credible. It's well shot though. Daniels accent is ridiculous and he is obviously no Kevin Spacey... and this way a great novel is almost ruined. It was a good idea to film this, obviously as an anti-Trump flick, but the way its done is al little saddening, a bit like the Woman King nonsense (the celebrated female warriors in this silly movie were no heroes at all but part of a cruel slavery ring run by the Dahomey, that started long before the Europeans started their cruel and dark share in the already existing business). Anyway, dissapointing. There's no need for yet another director who falls for the standard American mediocre, cliche-like, over-the-top way of portraying stories...

I can't help but feel a tad disappointed.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 6/10 · 15 May 2024]

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.

A show that lives up to its source material

[justbob-22219 · 10/10 · 3 May 2024]

Those who read Tom Wolfe's novel A Man in Full will recognize the characters from that book brought vividly to life here. I can't speak to Jeff Daniels' accent, nor do I care. He embodies the character Charlie Croker just as he is portrayed in the book. There are some changes to the narrative, mainly that all of the action takes place in Georgia, transplanting Conrad's subplot there right from the start. Roger White becomes the protagonist much more so, and the show is the better for it. Even spineless Peepgrass is redeemed here. Ignore the accents and enjoy the characters. And it gies without saying that Diane Lane, fresh off a triumph in Feud, is great as Martha, Charlie's ex wife who gets involved with Charlie's corporate nemesis, Peepgrass.

Stereo Types Galore Plus Bad Business

[david-04148 · 6/10 · 4 May 2024]

Picturing "liberal democrats" as have such sensitive emotions that they are incensed buy being shown a horse breading session on a horse farm is SUCH a stereotype. But that wasn't enough. They had to refer as the common practice of breading horses. Maybe David E. Kelly is seeking to pander to the MAGA crowd. Apparently this app needs more alphanumeric character to process is simple thought. I actually was enjoying the over-top acting by Jeff Daniels before my MAGA-dar went off.

My other problem I had was the ire and savage desire to destroy Charlie the banker had was never explained. I felt that needed to be explained because that attitude was so unbusinesslike and as Croker pointed out it move a asset to being liabilities..

Bad story, terrible acting, billionaire with zero smarts

[bernie-84192 · 1/10 · 7 May 2024]

Where to start with this terrible show? My immediate reaction to Jeff Daniel's, who has always been terrific, was what happened! He's awful. Then I kept waiting for signs of a billionaire who was savvy, calculating, manipulative....what a billionaire has to have to be a billionaire. All I got was stupidity, dullness, and a very boring script. Add in "black man good, white man bad" and you've got a cookie cutter formula for a series. I also kept wondering what was the motivation for the banker seething toward Daniel's character? Did I miss it? Fall asleep? It was central to the story.

Admission: I stopped watching before the last two episodes. Just couldn't take it anymore. I simply did not care what happened to the people. Sadly, when I asked my wife what happened, she could hardly remember. That says it all.

Fantastic

[ernestojhb · 10/10 · 3 May 2024]

Charlie's (Daniels) over the top personality is exactly what people like him are. The supporting cast is excellent. While the main plot was exaggerated and comical at times, Conrad's (Hill) subplot was the heart of the series. Joyce (Lou) seems like a promising character for a second season (and, side note, she's the most impecable, best dressed person I have ever seen). It's amazing that both Martha (Lane) and Serena (Jones) were married and in love with Charlie since they are so likable. Raymond (Pelphrey) was a train wreck and he makes a big impression in the last episode. Best show of 2024 by far and deserving of all the awards.

OMG! Went from an 8 to a 6 in one bad sex scene

[thejdrage · 6/10 · 11 May 2024]

I wasn't going to write a review, but then the last episode hit and....... well, I was compelled to say this contains one of the worst, most gratuitous sex scene I've ever wished I'd fast forwarded through. But it was so bad, I had to watch - like a car wreck. Yes! Diane Lane looks great in it! And her totally unnecessary gym scenes now make sense (no they don't).

This is a good series to binge for the fun of it, until you realize what you're really watching. It's shades of our lives (except for Diane Lane - she's in a movie of her own) and it's wildly subtle, while being in our face.

I also want you to know that when reviewers say the ending was an easy way out - it's true. I kept wondering if I'd missed the last episode. I had not.

It's a strange watch, but the courtrooms scenes are brilliant! The final one alone is worth the watch.

To say this is an odd series is an understatement. Give it a go. Or not!

Mediocre drama turns into late-night sketch comedy

[drjgardner · 2/10 · 4 May 2024]

Jeff Daniels and the other actors do a great job. There are so many good performances that it's hard to single out any one of them, but Tom Perlphrey and Bill Camp do stand out. But, the series suffers from a number of problems that detract from the quality of the series.

First and biggest is the several stories being told, some of which bear only tangentially to the plot. I think that's a problem of trying to be loyal to the book which cannot be done in a film.

The next biggest problem is that there is no one to cheer for. None of the major characters are sympathetic though there are a few at the periphery who are. Without someone to cheer for, the series gets depressing.

Upsetting and beyond belief is the final act in which a contrivance barely even mentioned earlier suddenly plays the pivotal part in the drama. Rather than drama, the scene turns into late-night sketch comedy. Unbelievable.

Don't waste your time on this series. It's not so good in the first place, and the final act is so terrible it cancels out any good that has preceded it.

Terrible!

[MovieIQTest · 12 May 2024]

The thing that I really don't understand is how only Charlie Croker, played by Jeff Daniels, is the only guy who got the weird, overly exaggerated, absolutely unnatural accent in this series. Is Charlie Croker is actually the only Atlanta outsider doing business in that city? Why all the characters around this guy speaking normal American English, even Bill Camp, an Atlanta local banker who hates his guts, without such weird accent? Not his ex wife, his current wife, not even his son, none of them seems to have no difficulty to communicate with him in a normal American English.

The second thing that I consider this series inferior is there almost not background histories of all the people around him. All these characters are like from the prequel series that we already knew them quite well. But it's not. When the first episode started, they are already in the middle of the storyline. There's no developments, the origins of all the relationships with Croker.

Then the whole series also showed a thin and weak centerline of the drama that needed to insert many unnecessary fillers such as 1) the mayor's re-election campaign, 2) Croker's attorney family life, his connection with that thug-like mayor, 3) Croker's secretary, Jill Hensley, her husband's bad luck with the violent white cop, his jail time, and his court trial scenes, 4) The weird and over-the-top side story of Herb Richman at the Croker's ranch. The rattle snakes scenes. 5) The unnecessary characters of Joyce Newman and even Croker's ex wife. There are more stuffing fillers in this thin drama, not just what I've pointed out here.

But the real killer of this series is the WEIRD ACCENT of Charlie Croker, so strange and out of place, a disastrous misfire, making Jeff Daniels a cartoon character and a very bad actor.