X
- FX
- Apr 9, 2019
- FX
- Apr 9, 2019
- FX
- Apr 9, 2019
- FX
- Apr 9, 2019
Where to Watch
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Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 36 Critic Reviews
68
58% Positive
21 Reviews
21 Reviews
42% Mixed
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 36 Critic Reviews
68
58% Positive
21 Reviews
21 Reviews
42% Mixed
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Williams conveys Verdon’s star quality without letting it obscure her steely survivor’s core. In Mad Men terms, the character is Joan (an underestimated single mom), Betty (a betrayed wife rebuilding her life) and Peggy (a woman who’s just as talented and driven as any man in her field) in one.
Seeing them portrayed on the small screen by two major movie stars, Michelle Williams and Sam Rockwell, feels like a stunt at first. But Williams especially makes her vulnerable, defiant Verdon come alive--a gladiator in a little black leotard. [5/12 Apr 2019, p.91]
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 19 User Ratings
7.6
79% Positive
15 Ratings
15 Ratings
11% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
11% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 19 User Ratings
7.6
79% Positive
15 Ratings
15 Ratings
11% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
11% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
It’s all sumptuously produced but heavy spirited, and perhaps too immersive for its own good. It proves the miniseries’ Broadway-and-Hollywood-geek bona fides, but as it powers through the postwar era, it settles into a boozy, smoky, prestige cable groove that’s like a glitzier, slower, less thematically on-point cousin of Mad Men.
Fosse/Verdon has some things going for it that held my interest even when the basic plot didn't. The scenes in which the two break out the dance steps for their productions, are fascinating, even if—maybe especially if—you don't give a tinker's dam about scissor kicks or jazz hands.
The series is certainly competent, one collaboration that changed the face of American theater telling the story of another. But you’re looking for more of a Fosse shoulder roll, the extra tap in the time step, the unexpected contortion in the jazz number--the kinds of quirks that made Fosse and Verdon singular and unique. Their relationship was anything but by the book, and you wish this dramatization wasn’t afraid to go a little more off-script.
Williams never makes a wrong step, but, sadly, the same can’t be said for the writing and direction.
Despite the time jumps, much of Fosse/Verdon feels sluggish and nonessential. Rockwell is fine as Fosse, but Fosse himself is a bore. ... More Verdon, less Fosse please.
