Fatal Attraction (2023)

We root for Ms. Caplan's Alex, which may seem strange, but it makes the entire production something much more intriguing, meaningful and memorable.

It’s fine if unremarkable. The series basically takes the plot of the 1987 film and elongates and attempts to deepen it with winks and nods to the movie.

It’s Gabriel Byrne’s “In Therapy” meets “Law and Order: Special Bad-Girlfriends Unit.” On such soap-operatic terms, the series is entertaining. ... Whenever the TV producers throw a bone to the original film script, I found myself begging them to quit. Their contempt for the original material shows in their dull nods to the listless sex scenes and a sad rabbit cameo.

In a television landscape that’s full to bursting with other prequels, spinoffs, and reboots of famous and familiar properties, you’ve got to give viewers something better than this tepid take that doesn’t seem to understand what made the original film so memorable in the first place.

While this so-so reboot has nothing new to say about sexual politics, it may yet redefine what is meant by barking mad.

Despite the fine performances and the first-rate production values, “Fatal Attraction” rides completely off the rails in those final episodes, leaving us with nothing more than the urge to revisit the original to see how it holds up and to completely forget about this misfire.

A disaster. ... The show’s thematic disappointments are exacerbated by structural ones. ... The chemistry between him [Jackson] and Caplan leaves much to be desired. While Huss, Peet, and Jirrels are all reliably solid in supporting roles, a few of the tertiary performances are distractingly bad.