Tom Holland is a world-renowned actor famous for his dual role of Peter Parker/ Spider-man in the MCU. Besides that iconic role, he has ventured out into other roles to stretch his acting ability. Some of them are similar in a way to Spider-man, namely Uncharted, where he does a lot of action sequences, but others are more like Cherry. The AGBO was produced and directed by the Russo Brothers Appletv+ film about a drug-addicted ex-soldier. The Crowded Room has a lot of similarities to that film than anything else he’s done.

Tom Holland plays Daniel Sullivan, a man who is arrested for killing a man who has a connection to him, a woman who he was friends with, Ariana (Sasha Lane) did the killing. Afterward, she disappeared and left him dealing with the aftermath of this killing. The series takes place in the late 70s early 80s. So a detective in the NYPD Rya Goodwin (Amanda Seyfried) doesn’t have the tools an investigator today would have. She uses the tried and true interview process to get to the bottom of this murder before another murder happens. 

The Crowded Room is based on the true life of Billy Milligan but is not a faithful adaptation by Akiva Goldsman. That being said it still has a gritty and dark style similar to that of 70s films and television series of the day. There is a lot of drug abuse and some sexual content. The free spirit aspect of the show lends itself to the story Goldsman is trying to tell. This time in history allowed people to be more secretive in their lives and do shady things like rob, sell/do drugs, and commit murder.

Holland went to a different level in this role than any other in his career. He is now taking a year off from acting. He’s not the only one in this series though. Emma Laird, Emmy Rossum, and Lior Raz all give terrific quality performances in the series supporting Holland and Lane. The cast is very important in telling this very complex story. Holdman assembled a lot of good people for this period show. 

Seyfried is coming off an Emmy win for her amazing performance in The Dropout. She is used interestingly throughout the three episodes that I saw. It’s a framing device. I don’t think this is the best use of her talents. I wished they mixed more of her into the early part of the series. Even though it’s mainly about the Holland character. He dictates to her his story.  She is fine in this role but her character could have been handled differently.  I wanted more of her.

Goldsman is famous for his collaborations with Ron Howard. He worked on Cinderella Man, The DaVinci Code and won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for A Beautiful Mind. He is very good at writing complicated characters and nuanced stories. He had his hands full with this story though. He did double duty on this series though. He also directed it, when maybe just writing it would have been good enough. I think it’s lacking in the directing department.

Even though I like the 70s/80s feel and style of this series. I feel The Crowded Room is a show that doesn’t know what it wants to truly say or what it wants to be. It focuses on multiple plot points and characters. It goes in many directions and not all of them get the treatment they deserve, especially Seyfried. This cast is too good to have any of them be wasted like that. With Goldsman doing double duty he is probably being stretched too thin. Goldsman is a very good writer, but his directing prowess isn’t up to that caliber. That’s the problem with this series from my perspective.

The Crowded Room is streaming Weekly on Apple tv+

3 stars

Dan Skip Allen