Critic Reviews

The “American Gigolo” of 2022 holds its own as an engrossing murder mystery that plays out across present-day Los Angeles and over a series of flashbacks to the late 1990s and early 2000s. ... [Bernthal is] also surprisingly convincing as a traumatized, near-broken man who‘s never had control over his own life.

This is glossy trash, but I can’t deny the addictive nature of the blood-soaked melodrama, and after viewing the first three episodes, I’m guilty of looking forward to seeing how it all plays out.

Given that its most intriguing facets have to do with Julian’s interior struggles, it remains to be seen if American Gigolo can sustain itself over the course of ten episodes (much less multiple seasons). ... It may not be as unique and pioneering as its source material (or celebrate its star, à la Gere, in all his unclothed full-frontal glory), but Hollander’s drama has a poise and polish that makes it a date worth keeping.

What American Gigolo succeeds at is setting itself apart from its predecessor, proving that it's more than just a glossy restoration of something we've already seen. Still, it struggles to find its footing as a modern story. If the tail end of Episode 3 is any indication, there could be good things to come. But that might be a lot to ask from a show that, at its core, struggles to untangle itself from the confines of the past.

Bernthal is convincing as both a 30-year-old Julian in over his head, and as the 45-year-old ex-convict trying to put his life back together, and O’Donnell is a surprisingly natural fit as a hardboiled detective. But the unanswered questions driving the story are just not as suspenseful as the show seems to think. Ultimately, American Gigolo is a dour show that seems disinterested in capturing the spirit of what made the original a hit.

“American Gigolo,” while thoroughly watchable, doesn’t entirely make sense tonally: Mr. Bernthal is first-rate. ... But the pace is uneven and there’s a lot of fishing for response among viewers when they haven’t been offered much bait.

Perhaps as it clarifies its central mystery and all too slowly weaves together the many strands it’s initially setting up, American Gigolo may emerge as a provocative proposition. As it stands, from the three episodes we watched, it doesn’t quite live up to its infamous title.

Maybe subsequent episodes will expand Julian's story beyond the who-framed-me-and-why basics; Bernthal can be electric when given the right material. For now, the best thing about Gigolo is O'Donnell's splendidly wry turn as Detective Sunday.

Bernthal is asked to do little more than look glum and spend a prodigious amount of time walking around various scenic locations staring off into the middle distance. He’s rarely allowed to be truly sexy, and much of his natural charisma is flattened by the mercilessly grim nature of the story.

The show's premise on its own is intriguing, and Bernthal obviously has the range required to give it the nuanced performance it deserves, but at its current juncture, American Gigolo offers little to no excitement about its ultimate destination.