- Network: FOX
- Series Premiere Date: Jan 23, 2014
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Critic Reviews
- Critic score
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There might be a good drama in Rake, but right now the jury is still out.
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The likability of a lying, cheating, essentially egomaniacal criminal defense lawyer is a stretch in the first place. It takes a lot of grinning and tousling from Kinnear to make it work.
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It could still be a hit, largely because of Kinnear. But it needs to pick up its game.
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Rake seems to believe he's fascinating, but the evidence does not persuade.
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I'm not entirely sure where Tolan, Kinnear and company are going with this, but I'm only interested if they're willing to go all in. Because a toothless rake is of no use at all.
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In the early going, Kinnear is simply too stain-proof. His fizzy, boyish air makes Keegan's vices seem merely prankish and easily overlooked.
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Mr. Kinnear certainly has the charm to play this rakish character, and the overstuffed pilot introduces a lot of characters who might help propel the series' stories in the future. But if "House" is the model, Rake is a somewhat stale successor.
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[Greg Kinnear's] charming enough and funny enough to make it work. If only the writing can rise to his abilities.
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Fox originally provided a different pilot for Rake, one that wasn't so lighthearted. (Really.) That episode will air later, after, the network hopes, we've come to love this bad boy despite his foibles.
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If you can’t love the rake in Keegan, then you sure can’t love the lawyer in him either (since it’s barely developed in the pilot). That leaves Rake as an overly familiar character study and an under-developed law procedural.
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"He's a lawyer--but with a twist!" is not a formula that the big networks will ever stop trying to perfect. But the execution of that idea isn't quite up to par in the first episode of Rake.
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While tonight’s first episode of Rake (the only one given critics, besides an earlier version of the pilot that was remade since last spring) is--well, rakishly--amusing, it’s not really enough to give a sense of what kind of show this will be, and whether it’s worth sticking with.
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Rake's uneven tone (which makes Ally McBeal seem grounded in reality) left me numb.
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Kinnear is a fine and immensely likable actor, and his wry smile and way with a line keep Keegan at least minimally sympathetic. They are not, however, enough to make him either interesting or believable.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 32 out of 43
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Mixed: 6 out of 43
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Negative: 5 out of 43
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Jan 24, 2014
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Jan 24, 2014
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Jan 24, 2014