Trying to find a new television show to watch? All out of luck? Well, here is the answer to your problems:”Luck.”
Puns aside, the simple fact of the matter is that “Luck” is the best new television show since, likely, HBO’s own “Boardwalk Empire” premiered in 2010. And was there really ever any question about it? Just look at, and admire, the pedigree behind “Luck”: David Milch, who has previously given us television classics like “NYPD Blue”and “Deadwood,” created it. Michael Mann, who directed its pilot episode, also produces the series. And yes, that is the Michael Mann, director of amazing films such asThe Last of the Mohicans and Heat. And of course, the show stars cinema legend Dustin Hoffman, in his first major television role, and Nick Nolte, among other notable film veterans.
Honestly, considering the cast and crew, I came into this show whole-heartedly believing that I would be wowed out of my mind. And this I most certainly was, as my expectations did not fail to be met. The show is set mostly on a horseracing track, and while a lot of characters in the show are genuinely there for the racing aspect, others use the track as a front. Front for what? Some sort of illegal conduct, the specifics of which, we know not.
Dustin Hoffman’s character falls into that latter type of person, the guys who are setting up shop for something illegal and using the track for cover-up. The pilot starts off with him getting out of prison after having served a multiple-year sentence for having been found guilty of crimes committed under the guise of working at the horseracing track, the same track he has now returned to in order to start his business up again. His close companion, a character played by the always-wonderful Dennis Farina, aids him.
There is also a group of characters at the racetrack that bet together on the same horses, always desperately hoping their horses will win so that they may escape the dreary lot their lives have fallen into. This group is one in which its members have very little money to their names, have severe health ailments and are being actively investigated by the IRS; in other words, they have no luck. This group is entertaining to watch, though, if only because the characters all seem so real.
“Real” is a great way to describe this show, really. It feels gritty without being overly so. It is intense (the horse races particularly) without ever exceeding the realm of reality and entering that of the over-dramatized. In being so realistic, however, the show forfeits a certain amount of alacrity in its place. It is slow moving, taking its time to establish the characters and the setting. This I take to be a great thing, considering the motley crew of characters featured in this show. Time is a necessary element to ensuring that each character is actually fleshed out. And even though Dustin Hoffman is the undisputed star of the show, he actually gets less screen time than some other actors, and this serves to guarantee that everybody on this show has a purpose and will have his story played out. Also, the lack of airtime adds to the mystique of Hoffman’s character, who seems to be the big boss of an organized crime syndicate.
Of course, having to pay attention to so many different characters, many of whom remain unmentioned in this review as there are simply too many, can prove a tiring task. It does not help matters that the show almost expects you to possess knowledge about horseracing and have a grasp on the jargon those involved with horseracing use. So, yes, there is a learning curve, but it is one that is easily surmounted by the pilot’s end, as the language quickly becomes familiar. And the characters will each grow on you, except for maybe Richard Kind’s, who has some sort of speech impediment that makes his voice almost unbearable and makes us question why such a character attribute was necessary. The characters are varied enough that this speech impediment almost comes off as something Milch and Mann threw in there just to allow Kind to explore his breadth as an actor — it should not be there.
Nevertheless, this show is unbelievably good. The dialogue is top-of-the-line too, especially the witty banter between Hoffman’s and Farina’s characters. The cast all have noticeable chemistry with each other, and while the plot is coming at you slowly out of the gate, HBO’s “Luck” will have won you over by the end of the pilot, if for nothing else than the sheer ungodly amount of potential the show has to be something magical. The elements are in place, the plot is bound to unfold and everything works. Truly, it’s not television, it’s HBO.
