Magic City
Starz | Release Date: April 6, 2012
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
57
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
11
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Uncle BarkyEd BarkApr 5, 2012
Season 1 Review: So far this is solid and very picturesque entertainment, with a strong sense of foreboding built in. Read full review
80
Boston GlobeMatthew GilbertJun 14, 2013
Season 2 Review: It’s thoroughly transporting. Read full review
80
Denver PostJoanne OstrowApr 6, 2012
Season 1 Review: Creator-executive producer Mitch Glazer draws a loving and critical portrait of the awesome and awful fantasyland that actually existed in that time and place. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleyApr 6, 2012
Season 1 Review: After an episode or two, when you sort out the characters and how their lives bang together in the dark, elegant shadows of late-1950s Miami Beach, you'll find rich drama, well written and beautifully styled. Read full review
80
Miami HeraldGlenn GarvinApr 2, 2012
Season 1 Review: The sordid ugliness that festers inside Magic City's voluptuously beautiful wrappings makes irresistible television. Read full review
75
New York PostLinda StasiApr 6, 2012
Season 1 Review: The acting for the most part, is first rate....Too bad the writing isn't better. Read full review
75
RedEyeCurt WagnerApr 5, 2012
Season 1 Review: Although you've tasted many of the ingredients before (in "The Sopranos," "Mad Men," "The Godfather" movies), creator Mitch Glazer mixes in enough new elements to keep things tasty. Read full review
75
San Jose Mercury News/Contra Costa TimesChuck BarneyApr 3, 2012
Season 1 Review: Through the early episodes, nothing really happens that you couldn't see coming. Still, the setting is so seductive, the period details so vivid and the acting so stellar, that it's as intoxicating as a potent mojito. Read full review
75
People WeeklyTom GliattoMar 30, 2012
Season 1 Review: The story is promising. [9 Apr 2012, p.42]
70
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen GrayJun 14, 2013
Season 2 Review: No, it's not as unpredictable as "Mad Men," but at least it packs enough of a punch to keep the conspiracy theorists at bay. Read full review
70
Boston GlobeSarah RodmanApr 6, 2012
Season 1 Review: The performances and the writing in the pilot don't quite reach the bar set by those predecessors [Mad Men and The Sopranos], but Glazer stakes his claim to his own little corner of the beach, and we're hopeful the series will eventually produce similar magic. Read full review
70
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen GrayApr 5, 2012
Season 1 Review: A big, sexy drama that doesn't take itself as seriously as "The Sopranos" or "Mad Men" and doesn't seem to expect us to, either. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterTim GoodmanMar 29, 2012
Season 1 Review: Early on, there's enough intrigue and style in Magic City to keep the viewer wanting more, but it's not as fully realized from the get-go as shows like Mad Men, Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLynette RiceJun 10, 2013
Season 2 Review: As with season 1, it's hard to care about these Miami misfits, given their lack of redeeming qualities. But they sure are nice to look at. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyKen TuckerApr 6, 2012
Season 1 Review: Magic City burns with ambition. [13 Apr 2012, p.74]
63
New York PostLinda StasiJun 12, 2013
Season 2 Review: It’s all OK, but the problem is that there still isn’t anyone to really care much about. Read full review
60
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob OwenApr 6, 2012
Season 1 Review: While some aspects of the Magic City characters and their relationships are handled sloppily, others are too on the nose. Read full review
60
VarietyBrian LowryMar 30, 2012
Season 1 Review: While the big-finned Cadillacs and old pop songs create an aura of pre-"Mad Men" nostalgia, the show is conventional in most other respects. Read full review
58
Boston HeraldMark A. PerigardApr 6, 2012
Season 1 Review: Like the look of the ladies, the show is gorgeous, but it needs to reveal some substance. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalNancy DeWolf SmithApr 6, 2012
Season 1 Review: Magic City is a little slow at getting under our figurative skin. Read full review
50
The New York TimesAlessandra StanleyApr 5, 2012
Season 1 Review: This glossy tribute is enjoyable; it is just not memorable. Read full review
50
USA TodayRobert BiancoApr 5, 2012
Season 1 Review: It may be possible that, after The Sopranos, the Godfather films and the collected works of Martin Scorsese, there is still more to say about mobsters. But nothing in Magic City would lead you to believe that's true. Looks good, though. If only that were magic enough. Read full review
42
NewsdayVerne GayJun 14, 2013
Season 2 Review: Magic City--on paper, not on screen--remains a compelling idea in search of great execution. Read full review
42
HitfixAlan SepinwallApr 5, 2012
Season 1 Review: As a narrative achievement, though, Magic City is a mess, filled with paper-thin characters and clichéd dialogue and storylines. If not for the appealing lead performance by Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Ike, large stretches of the series would be unwatchable, even with all the lovely visuals. Read full review
42
NewsdayVerne GayMar 29, 2012
Season 1 Review: Sleepy, listless, dull. But it has a great set; the beach and clouds on the horizon are alluring. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesRobert LloydApr 6, 2012
Season 1 Review: Glazer has built a beautiful edifice here, but he still needs to get some life into the place. Read full review
40
SalonWilla PaskinApr 6, 2012
Season 1 Review: What's really disappointing about Magic City is that if it weren't so desperate to be "Mad Men" in Miami Beach or The Jewish Godfather it could be an energetic, escapist hour of television. Read full review
30
TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushApr 6, 2012
Season 1 Review: The writing telegraphs every trite and derivative twist, whether violent or sexual or some combination of the two to remind us this is pay cable and not some musty rerun. Read full review
30
Washington PostHank StueverApr 5, 2012
Season 1 Review: Magic City suffers from endless predictability and a lack of creative storytelling. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandApr 4, 2012
Season 1 Review: The plot is one telegraphed event after another, so that the only enjoyment to be found in sitting through this thing is timing when a blatantly preordained event will actually occur. Read full review
20
New York Magazine (Vulture)Matt Zoller SeitzApr 9, 2012
Season 1 Review: The show is so enervating and undeservedly full of itself, and such an altogether depressing combination of brilliant production values and subpar drama, that I can't muster the necessary bile. Read full review
20
The Huffington PostMaureen RyanApr 6, 2012
Season 1 Review: Everything about Magic City shows a lack of depth, and the pacing is almost glacial. Read full review
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