SummaryBased on the British series of the same name, Milo's (Billy Zane) early retirement brings together his college friends (Ben Chaplin, Michael Imperioli, Romany Malco and Steve Zahn) in Belize where their vacation exposes secrets and involves them in murder.
SummaryBased on the British series of the same name, Milo's (Billy Zane) early retirement brings together his college friends (Ben Chaplin, Michael Imperioli, Romany Malco and Steve Zahn) in Belize where their vacation exposes secrets and involves them in murder.
[Mad Dogs] is perfect escapist fare--by turns funny, frank, and frightening, with terrific, color-saturated cinematography and a central foursome whose long history feels immediately palpable.
It moves along at a thriller’s pace, as the men’s troubles accumulate, and there are a lot of satisfying plot turns, blackly comic moments, and guest appearances along the way.
It’s easy to think of Mad Dogs as of a piece with the blackly comic first seasons of Breaking Bad and Fargo, just with 9,000 square miles of tropical jungle on display instead of the Albuquerque desert or Minnesota ice. ... While Mad Dogs doesn’t quite have the precision plotting or bravado of the above-mentioned shows, what helps separate it from the pack is its willingness to be the first to laugh at its characters.
It’s frustrating to watch these four men fumble every opportunity to straighten out the mess they descend ever deeper into.... But it’s worth giving Mad Dogs a chance to prove itself to the end of season one. If the action ramps up and the bickering dies down, these dogs could have a few more miles in them.
It’s a familiar theme, but thrillingly executed in the early going.... Like many streaming series, though, it seems to be marking time in the middle (Amazon previewed six of 10 episodes for critics), as the characters try to escape Belize and the plot tosses them among so many frying pans and fires that the whole thing threatens to overcook.
Six of 10 episodes were made available for review; and over their course the truth-telling gets a little repetitious, a little annoying, a little dull; there are only so many bandages you can rip off to reveal other bandages you can rip off to get down to the skin you can peel back to get down to the bone.
Mad Dogs does [stall], frequently and interminably, as the quartet repeatedly makes groaningly dumb choices between boggy respites where they can grouse both about each other and their mundane disappointments.