Pam & Tommy

:

Season 1
  • Network: HULU
  • Series Premiere Date: Feb 2, 2022
Metascore
70

Generally favorable reviews - based on 43 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 30 out of 43
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 43
  3. Negative: 1 out of 43
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Critic Reviews

  1. The Atlantic
    Reviewed by: Sophie Gilbert
    Feb 11, 2022
    60
    Critiquing Pam & Tommy as a single, unified work is hard because it’s such an awkward hybrid of genres and ideas. ... I enjoyed this show. It made me think about Anderson differently—as someone who’s survived extraordinary victimization and typecasting and who’s managed to redefine how she’s perceived. But the series, which so often feels like it’s trying to atone for our old mistakes, seems intent on pointing out ethical transgressions while looking right past the notable void at its own core.
  2. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Inkoo Kang
    Feb 2, 2022
    60
    “Pam & Tommy” is certainly watchable, if questionably structured.
  3. The Independent
    Reviewed by: Ed Cumming
    Jan 26, 2022
    60
    Its pretensions to commentary on the Nineties are undermined by a curious mix of comedy, drama and period piece.
  5. Decider
    Reviewed by: Meghan O'Keefe
    Jan 26, 2022
    60
    The series is worth watching for Lily James’s phenomenal, career-redefining turn as Pamela Anderson. However, the strengths of the series are ultimately undercut by its own wild ambitions. It wants to be a darkly comic true crime tale, a tragic love story, a cruel satire, and a reclamation of Pamela Anderson all at the same time. Ultimately, these divergent tones don’t come together in perfect harmony.
  6. The Telegraph
    Reviewed by: Ed Power
    Jan 26, 2022
    60
    What the scene ultimately confirms is that Pam & Tommy is more interested in laughs than in drawing serious conclusions from the scandal and its role in catalysing modern celebrity culture. This true life sex caper is fabulously frisky. But also as tacky and insubstantial as one of Lee’s tattoos.
  7. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Allison Picurro
    Jan 26, 2022
    57
    Whiplash settles in as the series vacillates in tone, trying all at once to be a crime thriller, a raunchy sex comedy, a critique of the media, and a reflection on a very famous woman's inner turmoil. It never figures out how to effectively tie those elements together, nor is it able to successfully make the case that Gauthier's story is just as important as Pamela's.
  8. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: Doreen St. Félix
    Mar 1, 2022
    50
    Rogen’s Gauthier is sketched out more confidently than any other character. The alluring, trashy chic aesthetic of “Pam & Tommy” is a smoke screen for a series that is reluctant to give its protagonists—the lovers it would purport to raise to a classical perch—any real depth.
  9. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Nina Metz
    Feb 2, 2022
    50
    Pam and Tommy — you know, the two victims of the crime — are sometimes disconcertingly sidelined in this retelling. Which is a shame because as the central couple, Lily James and Sebastian Stan dive into their roles with an enthusiasm I found hard to resist. ... Why “Pam & Tommy” chooses to frame Gauthier in a sympathetic light becomes a singularly if unintentionally interesting question underscoring the entire series.
  10. Vanity Fair
    Reviewed by: Richard Lawson
    Feb 1, 2022
    50
    Those two components—the humanist look at victims of a crime and the free-wheeling black comedy of witless perpetrators—are never successfully married. Each half has its merits, particularly in a handful of sharp performances, but the mighty, summative synthesis they are supposed to reach by the end arrives forced, sledgehammered over our heads.
  11. The Times
    Reviewed by: Carol Midgley
    Feb 2, 2022
    40
    Pam & Tommy is upbeat and entertaining, no question, but it is as superficial as a Baywatch titty calendar.
  12. Time
    Reviewed by: Judy Berman
    Jan 26, 2022
    40
    The best thing this frustrating crime caper has going for it is its cast. Sebastian “Winter Soldier” Stan captures the manic machismo of Mötley Crüe drummer Lee in full, chaotic flower. If Lily James, the British period drama stalwart, leans into Anderson’s breathy ditziness to an extent that feels slightly mean, at least she makes an astonishing physical transformation into the Baywatch star.
  13. Radio Times
    Reviewed by: David Craig
    Jan 26, 2022
    40
    Perhaps the show could help change attitudes among those still seeking out intimate leaked images, but so far it seems too busy revelling in its own debauchery to say anything especially powerful.

Awards & Rankings

83
#83 Most Discussed TV Season of 2022

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 24 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 24
  3. Negative: 4 out of 24
  1. enut_butter
    Feb 2, 2022
    0
    Really low effort. Lily does a good job as Pam, but everyone else comes across as phoning it in. Seth Rogen is unbearable. His shtick is soReally low effort. Lily does a good job as Pam, but everyone else comes across as phoning it in. Seth Rogen is unbearable. His shtick is so tired and unwelcome at this point and his acting seems to get worse with time.… Full Review »
  2. Clayfox
    Feb 4, 2022
    0
    Slick, hollow. I’ve always liked Rogen but this reminds me that when he tries to stretch outside his comfort zone, he’s a bad actor - andSlick, hollow. I’ve always liked Rogen but this reminds me that when he tries to stretch outside his comfort zone, he’s a bad actor - and there’s a LOT of Rogen.… Full Review »
  3. SamGuzman
    Jun 16, 2022
    9
    What if the Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee tape had never leaked? What would have happened with the careers of both, or with theirWhat if the Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee tape had never leaked? What would have happened with the careers of both, or with their relationship? Maybe Pam had become a movie superstar, or maybe Baywatch had outshone the rest of her work. Perhaps their marriage didn't have much of a future, or perhaps they had become an unlikely stable couple.

    The problem is that they will never know, because their life ceased to belong to them and became part of popular culture.

    This is one of the thoughts that Pam & Tommy left me. The series is an excellent opportunity to demystify these two characters and put yourself in their shoes, find characteristics that you can identify with, be happy for them and then feel devastated for them.

    That’s why the work of characterization and the interpretation of Lily James and Sebastian Stan is so extraordinary. The two main actors deserve a separate mention because their research work is perfectly projected in each of the episodes; they don’t do an imitation, but rather captured the essence of their characters and blended in with them.

    It is important to clarify and acknowledge the respect with which directors, writers and actors treated Pamela Anderson. It was risky to involve comedy in a story like hers, but the series manages to do so without ever making fun of her. The comedy can be in certain situations, it can be in the pathetic character of Rand Gauthier or the extravagance of Tommy, but never in Pamela. And that is appreciated.

    After watching the show, I find it a bit disappointing to see the media put so much emphasis and attention on just one scene (the talking penis, which you can surely recognize even if you haven't seen the show yet), when the show has so many moments that are much more transcendent and better achieved in terms of rhythm, setting, music and character development. It's not that it's a bad scene, in fact it perfectly represents Tommy's personality; however, I think there are better moments.

    Also invaluable is the series' smooth transition from light comedy and romance to full-blown nightmare. As you get to the last chapters you realize that, as much as you would like to change things, there will be no happy ending here. A hopeful ending is what they give us, and it was the most we could hope for.    … Full Review »
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