Critic Reviews

HBO’s Rooster is an acting masterclass, with tour-de-force performances from Steve Carrell, Phil Dunster, Danielle Deadwyler, John C. McGinley, and more. It’s at once charming, incisive, and laugh-out-loud funny.

As a show that keeps getting better as it goes and an ensemble that is nailing every scene, Rooster belongs at the top of your must-watch list this season.

It's already become a charming comedy filled with the warmth and clever banter of past Lawrence productions and ambitions to explore some thematic territory all its own.

Rooster stumbles at times in depicting the clash of generations, ideologies, and sexual urges on a college campus... It sets up various story and character ideas that it doesn't always have interest in following, and going back and forth on how ridiculous it finds both its setting and people on different sides of the student/faculty divide. But it also has a generosity of spirit, a warmth, and a trust in its performers, that evokes the charms of much of Lawrence's other work.

With Lawrence vets John C. McGinley and Phil Dunster also turning out reliably bizarre and antagonistic performances, Rooster has more working parts than broken ones to keep the HBO Max comedy moving.

Though the series strikes the creator’s signature balance of humor and emotional depth, Rooster has yet to rival Shrinking, Ted Lasso, or The Office. That’s not to say the six of ten episodes made available for review weren’t a genuinely fun ride; rather, it’s a testament to the incredible heights we’ve seen both men reach.

If the series can build on the momentum it builds here, “Rooster” may hit a rarified air typically reserved for the best shows, one which feels like an accurate portrait of the ups and downs of life, rendered in both comedic and tragic clarity. That, combined with a tremendously compelling central dynamic thanks to the charm and charisma of Carell and Clive, makes the trip back to school well worth it.

Fast-paced and funny with an undercurrent of authentic emotion, “Rooster” is a half-hour comedy worth crowing about.

It’s low stakes, soft-edged, humane, basically gentle, a little fantastic, a little farcical, well cast and well played in every instance — qualities I happen to like, and maybe you do, too.

It’s the kind of show that doesn’t knock your socks off​, but its amiable wit is more than welcome.