Leverage
TNT | Release Date: December 7, 2008
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
11
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Orlando SentinelHal Boedeker
Season 1 Review: John Rogers and Chris Downey have created a show that's equally smart and diverting. Read full review
88
USA TodayRobert Bianco
Season 1 Review: So far, though, it keeps the techno-babble to a manageable level, and if it seems to owe more to other movies and shows than it does to real life, at least it's paying its debt in an entertaining fashion. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyKen Tucker
Season 1 Review: Don't think Leverage is preachy--it's shrewdly conceived, and it moves along like a son of a gun. Read full review
83
NewsdayVerne Gay
Season 1 Review: Leverage's pilot is particularly entertaining. The cast is fine, direction is expert, writing above average, and Hutton's Ford is almost convincing. But the payoff feels laden with cheese of another sort. Read full review
80
Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert
Season 1 Review: Even when Leverage flirts with serious issues, including the mistreatment of an Army reservist who is shot in Iraq by a private contractor, the dramatic tone is whimsical and tongue in cheek. This motley crew is a kind of guerilla comedy troupe that can pick pockets and empty bank accounts, too. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterBarry Garron
Season 1 Review: The action is swift, the patter is clever, the casting is smart and the special effects are nimble, all of which adds up to a flashy hour of fun. Read full review
80
Kansas City StarAaron Barnhart
Season 1 Review: The secret to the show’s success is not any of the overly familiar parts, but the nutty way Leverage throws them together. Also, Hutton is a great actor who generates plenty of crackle between Nate and his fellow fleecers. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan
Season 1 Review: Though the pace is zippy and a fair amount of the dialogue is snappy, Hutton brings a distracted, melancholy air to the proceedings, which doesn’t slow things down -- his nuanced performance keeps the show on an even keel. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyRobert Abele
Season 1 Review: Leverage isn’t quite as effortlessly intoxicating--it must make do with the dependable but suave-challenged Timothy Hutton--but when it works, the TNT series has a rascally tingle. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesRobert Lloyd
Season 1 Review: The show fails only when it wants to make you feel something warm about their mission, rather than just letting you enjoy the icy suspense and snappy dialogue. Read full review
70
Washington PostTom Shales
Season 1 Review: Although it starts out on a glib, dopey note--as "Mission: Preposterous" crossed with "Ocean's Eleven"--the new TNT series Leverage develops with surprising swiftness into a decent, watchable action drama about wrongs being righted and bad guys getting what's coming to them. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleyJul 16, 2012
Season 5 Review: it's business as usual for a cool, fast-paced and thoroughly pleasant hour of summer television. Read full review
60
PopMattersChris ConatonJun 27, 2011
Season 4 Review: All this is to say that it's good to see that Season Four starts without any arc in sight. At least until the last minutes of the premiere episode. Read full review
60
VarietyBrian Lowry
Season 1 Review: Aside from an easygoing quality and mild comic flair, there's not much here to steal the hearts of viewers; instead, it's another modest, lightweight addition to TNT's diner-style menu of comfort food for a weary nation. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley
Season 1 Review: Once TNT's new Leverage scrambles to its feet, it becomes an adept, fast-moving adventure yarn built on the familiar but serviceable premise that justice sometimes isn't best served through legitimate channels. Read full review
60
Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall
Season 1 Review: The new TNT drama Leverage isn't a great show, but it may just be the exact right show at the exact right time. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalStaff (Not Credited)
Season 1 Review: The choice of villains is unoriginal, if predictably lazy: Think greedy corporations. That tedium aside, there's a cast both likeable and great to look at. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyKeith StaskiewiczJul 6, 2012
Season 5 Review: The show has a hard time staying grounded. [13 Jul 2012, p.69]
50
San Francisco ChronicleDavid Wiegand
Season 1 Review: Leverage is far from great TV and not even close to really good TV, but when the bad-turned-good guys team up to do their thing, it's a passably entertaining way to spend an hour. Read full review
50
New York PostLinda Stasi
Season 1 Review: All in all, even with an accomplished actor like Hutton, there's nothing special to set Leverage apart from other cookie-cutter dramas of this ilk. Read full review
50
The New York TimesVirginia Heffernan
Season 1 Review: Leverage winds up seeming merely anachronistic, wrapping up with a cute resolution each week, the swine in handcuffs, not torn from the private hockey rinks of their Aspen vacation homes. Read full review
40
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen
Season 1 Review: Viewers who value character development, logic and plot consistency will be disappointed by this series that's sloppy when it comes to all three. It's often more concerned with looking cool and fun than making sense. Read full review
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