The Comey Rule is “excellent, and deeply unsettling” according to one critic, and is getting rave reviews from others.
From the minute the first trailer for The Comey Rule dropped and we got our first glimpse at Brendan Gleeson as Donald Trump, we knew we were going to see something very interesting.
And based on the first reviews, we have every reason to be excited about it.
Dominic Patten from Deadline described the series as “excellent, and deeply unsettling”, saying that “Trump is a stitched together Falstaff and Richard III, with all of the latter’s self-aggrandising and wicked inclinations and none of his intelligence”.
“Perched on premium cable,” the review from X reads, “I’m not sure The Comey Rule will cost Trump the 2020 election, but it sharply brings to life a man clearly unsuited for the office he currently occupies.”
Collider also praised Gleeson’s performance, saying that he “absolutely delivers”, and that his performance is “terrifying and disturbing”.
“Gleeson’s performance hones in on an aspect of Trump’s personality that is typically overlooked – he is legitimately scary. The scenes in which Comey is stuck in one-on-one conversations with him are unexpectedly tense, with subtle intimidation ebbing and flowing from the stream-of-consciousness nature of Trump’s discourse. It’s like being stuck in a room with a distracted shark, and it’s impossible to relax while he is onscreen.”
Interestingly, Variety specifically said that Gleeson’s performance is both “the best and worst thing about The Comey Rule”.
It says that he uncannily evokes the president’s aura of menace, “doing so while pushing his performance past a bizarre sheath of makeup that misses the mark. (An actor’s tone is so much more important than their specific visual accuracy; it’s a wonder they didn’t just let Gleeson deliver his sharp take on the President while looking like Gleeson, or like a person.)”
The series is based in part on the book A Higher Loyalty, a memoir written by James Comey — the FBI director who was fired by Donald Trump whilst in the middle of investigating the matter of his collusion with Russia during the 2016 presidential election.
The Comey Rule will air on Sky Atlantic on 30 September.
Take a look at the trailer here:
Clip via SHOWTIME
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