Jeff Daniels Is Too Uncool to Make ‘A Man in Full’ a Good Dad Show
America's most swaggerless movie star
A Man in Full is definitely a Dad Show. The only thing about it, though, is that the Bad Guy isn’t a Cool Guy at all.
The Netflix limited series stars Jeff Daniels as Charlie Croker, an Atlanta real estate mogul with grown man problems. He has everything – a beautiful young wife, power and influence, and all the money in the world. Also a private jet, a stud horse, and a house that’s almost as big as Rick Ross’. He also has a world-annihilating amount of debt, which is what sets the plot in motion.
What he doesn’t have is SWAG.
This is Jeff Daniels’ fault.
Jeff Daniels is very uncool. His staid everyman onscreen persona makes him perhaps the least cool leading man in America. He seems more like a tax attorney than a movie star.
Let me be clear: I am not saying it is bad to be uncool. It is not a value judgment, just an observation. He is dignified, fatherly, responsible. He was Atticus Finch on Broadway, which is great casting. He can do Atticus Finch. Noble and sincere is his bread and butter.
But the characters Jeff Daniels plays all have a self-importance that makes me associate him with self-importance. Like he thinks playing Atticus Finch makes him Atticus Finch.
And self-importance is uncool.
He’s of course a great actor who I have enjoyed in many things. The Squid and the Whale, that was a good one. And again, I’m not saying he’s not a decent person or anything. He seems like a good guy in his personal life, but I’ve never met him, so I don’t really know. I was supposed to interview him once, but the press day was running behind schedule and my interview got canceled so he could have lunch. But my opinion is nothing personal. I thought he was uncool and chose self-satisfied roles long before he flaked on me.
It goes back to The Newsroom, the HBO show where he played a cable news blowhard who Took Journalism Very Seriously. I don’t usually describe things as “cringe,” but Daniels’ speech in the pilot makes me want to find a quiet place to curl up into a little ball and die.
Aaron Sorkin is famous for being the most sanctimonious writer in all of Hollywood, and he deserves most of the blame for this very annoying speech. But the way Daniels sells the smugness and condescension puts it over the top.
Unfortunately, Daniels was rewarded with an Emmy for his performance, so since then he’s taken on a few Newsroom-style roles as guys who Take Things Very Seriously.
In The Looming Tower, he Took Terrorism Very Seriously. In The Comey Rule, he played James Comey, who Took Democracy Very Seriously. God, I hated The Comey Rule so much. My review of it is probably the most negative review I’ve ever written.
So I brought a lot of Jeff Daniels baggage with me into A Man in Full.
A Dad in Full
Charlie Croker is a flip of Daniels’ usual moderate and dignified middle-aged man persona. He’s a bellicose asshole, a real Trumpian piece of shit. You may think that would be a slam dunk for Daniels, because it’s a simple play-against-type-and-ham-it-up role.
But he’s actually totally miscast, because Daniels cannot conjure Trump-like swagger. His imperiousness goes in a know-it-all direction, not a braggadocious one. He can’t seem like a guy who doesn’t give a fuck. He’s a guy who Takes Things Very Seriously.
Charlie Croker is the embodiment of capitalist excess. He should be loathsome, but in a charismatic way, like Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street (or, y’know, Donald Trump). His enemy Raymond Peepgrass hates him but also admires him, because he is who he is without apology or shame. He bends the world to his will.
Harry Dunne just can't do it. He can be a Bad Guy, but he can’t be a Cool Guy. He’s too uptight and moral. Everything Charlie Croker does, it feels like the show is saying “...And that’s bad!” Daniels can’t make being evil seem fun. All he can do is put on a Foghorn Leghorn accent and find the decency at Charlie Croker’s core. No thank you.
You know who’s awesome, though? Bill Camp. Bill Camp is awesome in this, like he always is. The best scenes in A Man in Full are the ones where Camp and Daniels are going toe-to-toe in the boardroom. A Man in Full is not very good, but it’s easy to watch.
-Have you been watching previous Dad Shows subject Sugar? The most recent episode revealed a crazy twist. I talked to executive producers Simon Kinberg and Audrey Chon about it for TV Guide.
-I don’t always know what I’m going to write about next week, but this week I do! Next week’s Dad Shows will be about Dark Matter, an Apple TV+ sci-fi show about Joel Edgerton as an interdimensional dad trying to get back to his family.