Boyd’s TV Land
Now streaming on Amazon Prime
THE UNMISSABLES
The Last Tycoon seems to have it all: it’s created by The Hunger Games screenwriter Billy Ray; adapted from a classic novel by F Scott Fitzgerald about the glamorous but dangerous world of ’30s Hollywood; and it stars the great Kelsey Grammer from classic sitcom Frasier, hot Matt Bomer from the Magic Mike films, the always intriguing Lily Collins, and Jennifer Beals of Flashdance fame. It’s also got a vast budget courtesy of Amazon Prime and clearly hopes to do for the ’30s and filmmaking what Mad Men did for the ’60s and advertising. Yet – despite the fact that it undoubtedly looks the part, with the cameras swooping around vast, beautifully lit sets, and capturing the gorgeous cast clad in stunning period costume –something’s not quite right. It feels inert on arrival. The dialogue these actors spouting sounds awkward and unnatural, especially when they have to explain a key plot point like the fact that our movie-making hero Monroe (Bomer) suffers from a congenital heart defect that could kill him off at any moment (“You know about his congenital heart defect, right?”). There’s an intriguing sub-plot about how the Nazis started investing in Hollywood movies, but of course insisted on removing any Jewish characters, but it doesn’t really go anywhere. Comparisons with Mad Men are perhaps unfair, so I’ll throw an even harsher one in: it’s like the Coen Brothers movie about movies, Hail Caesar, but with all fun and narrative urgency removed. All in all, it’s a salutary reminder that even though Amazon Prime and Netflix have undoubtedly transformed the world of TV for the better, they’re also capable of producing expensive duds.