‘A Man in Full’ Netflix Series Review - Jeff Daniels and Diane Lane in a Generic Drama

There are scenes in A Man in Full where characters are seen engaged in workouts. Harry (Bill Camp) does pushups in his office, while Martha (Diane Lane) attends Zumba classes. You can say that almost everyone in A Man in Full wants power or wants to be perceived as powerful. Charlie (Jeff Daniels) chooses a robotic, science fiction-like knee for the surgery. Raymond (Tom Pelphrey) and Harry go after Charlie aggressively to present themselves as people who do not bend in front of anybody. Harry even calls Charlie's wife, Serena (Sarah Jones), a bimbo in front of him to show off his superiority. Hence, Charlie doesn't shake Harry's hand; he seizes it firmly. One man asks his colleague if he can take down Charlie while the other talks to a snake, saying, "You think you can kill me?" A Man in Full is all about boys being arrogant, pompous, and, yes, boys. So when a lawyer named Roger (Aml Ameen) thinks a judge has bruised his ego, he continues fighting a case meant for a criminal lawyer. Not only that, Roger also goes to trial by rejecting a 60-day offer. As a result, his client, Conrad (Jon Michael Hill), suffers in prison.

Here is some context. Charlie, a businessman, owes $800 million to PlannersBanc. Harry and Raymond work at this bank and want to undermine Charlie. The former uses the businessman as a motivation to get out of bed in the morning. Raymond, however, becomes personally attached to this mission of bringing down Charlie. Raymond doesn't simply hate Charlie; he also admires him because Charlie is someone who lives life on his own terms. Charlie channels this envy with an unhinged, almost serial killer-esque demeanor (he angrily picks up a knife to attack his neighbor at one point). Characters like these are generally portrayed as introverts and "losers with no friends who pick up the weapon" in a slasher/horror. Charlie, though, has a beautiful ex-wife named Sirja (Eline Powell) who offers him settlement sex. She mentions how she used to give Charlie lots of blowjobs during a meeting with lawyers, and her tone cracks you up. Charlie also knows how to flirt with women, which is why he manages to go on a date with Martha, Charlie's ex-wife. She asks him the reason behind the date, and he says, "You are beautiful." He's right. Lane is 59 years old, but she still looks...beautiful.

When you hear the song Gonna Be An Explosion, you expect characters to attack each other with a gun. The confrontation that follows, however, occurs through words, not bullets. The dialogues in A Man in Full are concise and sharp, and the actors deliver them with smooth precision. The first episode, directed by Regina King, sets the pace and the mood of the entire show, which Thomas Schlamme sustains from Episodes 2 to 4 (King returns to the director's chair for the last two episodes). There is a weird yet funny scene where Charlie's snake-grabbing stunt is interspersed with Raymond's wild sex. That snake-grabbing thing is just another one of Charlie's tricks to establish himself as a daredevil. The viewer, though, is able to catch the ludicrosity behind this situation. It's not just a joke that the snake stunt is seen alongside the sex as later, Raymond takes pills to impress Martha during coitus. The more Charlie and Raymond try to appear formidable, the more they look like fools to us.

Hence, it makes sense that the title slowly crumbles. Charlie and Raymond stand on shaky grounds (in the former's case, this sentence can be interpreted in literal terms). Unbeknownst to them, they head towards the path of self-destruction. In a story like this, one player emerges victorious, but A Man in Full doesn't pick either of the two characters. They are both unlikable. The series supports good over evil, which is why Conrad's thread receives a positive conclusion (his lawyer chooses the right path, and Conrad himself is a good person). However, given how A Man in Full begins with nice comic touches, it's disappointing to see how it gradually loses its amusing side as the story progresses. Conrad's thread is treated with a serious tone so that the courtroom scene could land with a rousing force. It's a calculated approach with a shallow function: To elicit certain responses from the audience. Conrad says he is in danger in prison, but his fears are not depicted with a remarkable visual style, and Michael Hill is too bland here. Take Charlie's paranoia - his belief that he is the gilded elephant in every room, so everybody is definitely looking at him and gossiping about his status. The way Daniels moves his eyes and ears in various directions renders his paranoia almost palpable.

"I can't go out small," mentions Charlie at one point. A Man in Full, sadly, doesn't share the same ambitions. It fizzles out long before reaching the finish line. Scenes move forward with a swift pace, so you never feel bored or tired. Still, speed does not equal satisfaction, especially when it ends up weakening the show's humor. After a while, it feels as if you are just watching actors dispensing dialogues. Despite the speed with which the scenes unfold, A Man in Full looks static and dull. The complications, like that of Conrad's, seem to be hastily resolved, leaving you with a suspicion that some events could have been axed to sustain the interest of the "second screen" audience (people who look at their phones while a show or a movie runs in the background). This is why A Man in Full ultimately comes across as a generic Netflix drama - a fast food-type entertainment that's easy to digest and forgettable.

Final Score- [5.5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times