Bonnie & Clyde

It understands that its first job is to make us believe in Bonnie and Clyde and commit to their story. And that it does, perhaps not brilliantly, but well.

Bonnie & Clyde really is just another biopic with superior production values, a few good performances and a pair of protagonists who deserve no sympathy, and receive none here.

Bonnie’s panic attacks and Clyde’s crystal-ball premonitions add hokeyness to an otherwise decent drama, whose biggest crime is being stretched over two nights instead of one.

Neither [Hirsch and Granger] offer any insight into what drove the couple, what they actually hoped to achieve, and what kept them going when it became clear that things were not going to end well. And History might have a little soul-searching to do; dramatic license should not mean Make a Huge Number of Important Plot Points Up.

The miniseries itself never quite reaches dramatic liftoff. Could be the know-how-it-ends curse of biopics at work. Or perhaps it's because it is so difficult to spare time and emotion for a couple of punks.

The script is workmanlike rather than inspired or in any way profound.

This miniseries is terrible, as close to a complete waste of time as I've encountered in my two years of writing for this publication.