TV Review: 'Leverage'

This is the part where I act like an authority on entertainment, and criticize the work of professionals who are, without exception, more successful than I in the industry in which we both work. Some people would say this is proof I have "balls", or "chutzpah" in Jewspeak. Others would say it's proof I'm a "douchebag". To catch up on any old reviews, you can find the link on the right hand side of the page, or just click here.

[Before we start, a quick site update: I know I said my 'Revolutionary Road' review was up next, and it is -- among my movie reviews. But first I caught up on all the back episodes of this new TNT show in the last few days, so I thought I'd throw up a review of that first. But, while I may throw up a Link Dump or some random videos over the holiday, I promise my next "real" post will be my review of 'Revolutionary Road' after Christmas. Okay, that's it -- carry on.]

’Leverage’ is about a band of ex-thieves who band together to run undercover scams to help people who can’t help themselves. Kind of like ’The Equalizer’ meets ’The A-Team’. It sounds okay on paper, but some elements seem to be out of whack.

Firstly, the backgrounds of the team. Their leader, Nathan Ford (Timothy Hutton) is not ex-CIA, but an ex-insurance investigator. I’m sure in this line of work, one could learn many different scams, and shortcuts to getting what you want, but when one old acquaintance bring up a foreign coup he was involved in, you begin to wonder if the writers understand what an insurance investigator actually does.

Also, it’s not entirely clear if (or how) the jobs they do put any money in their pockets. And if they’re doing it purely from a vigilante/charity perspective -- and must spend a ton of money pulling them off -- then should we assume they are all independently wealthy ex-thieves?

Other problems include the uneven nature of the characters, tone and acting. Timothy Hutton is great as Ford, a smart, charming weasel with a heart of gold. He brings his Oscar-winning acting talent, but a low-key approach which be-fits a show that's trying no to take itself too seriously. But the rest of his crew can’t keep up. Honestly, they're like the people left over after all the other shows got to have their pick.

Christian Kane is stiff as Elliot, a tough guy with a nerdy name. He tries to pull off the kind of raspy snarl another Christian (Bale) made famous in Batman, but unlike Bale, the cheesiness factor overcomes the toughness he projects. Both the women in the crew -- Sophie (Gina Bellman) and Parker (Beth Riesgraf) -- are asked to do quite a bit of comedy, which doesn’t fit in with the tone very well. It’s not that the women aren’t up for it -- they are -- it’s that the bits they are asked to perform involve gags so broad that they disrupt the tone of the show and take viewers out of the moment. The worst of these moments come in ’Family Guy’-type unmotivated cutaways and flashback for comedy beats which just aren’t worth all the trouble.

The best part of the crew, besides Hutton, is Aldis Hodge, the wise-talking black guy. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Wait, the cliched ‘wise-talking black guy”? is a good thing?” Well, not really. But at least they turned him into an anti-cliche -- a computer hacker and information guy, rather than a street smart hood. But he’s still left to make quippy one-liners a la Chris Tucker.

If the comedy could be refined a little -- maybe if creators Chris Downey and John Rodgers just resigned themselves to not trying so hard -- the mixed tones of scams and comedy might work. There’s certainly enough recent history of success in this endeavor -- ’Burn Notice’ and the ’Ocean’s Eleven’ franchise come to mind. But this show isn’t there yet.

It may come in time, especially given Hutton’s good work. But first, the must find a way to raise the rest of the cast’s game to meet Hutton’s, or replace them with those who can. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if by the end of the first season, or the beginning of the second, another more heralded actor who can match Hutton’s talent is brought in. Probably an actress, maybe an old flame.

Until then, the show is worth watching as light fare only, not to be taken very seriously. Which it seems their network, TNT, already realizes: Their ad campaign for the show includes one spot which quotes a critic who describes the show as “better than the last two ’Ocean’s Eleven’ movies. With that ad, TNT seems to be saying, “Hey, it’s not great TV or anything, but it’s not complete crap.”

I, for one, agree.

Using the age-old Hollywood scale of judgment -- HIGHLY RECOMMEND/RECOMMEND/CONSIDER/PASS (circle one) -- I rate 'Leverage':

CONSIDER