The Arrangement (2017)

The pilot strikes a balance between silly--a paparazzi chase on their first date!--and the sincere. [24 Feb/3 Mar 2017, p.93]

Perhaps it is a little over-the-top to remind our audience of B-movie thrillers in the midst of what is otherwise a negotiation between several rich adults. But the lingering taste of fear makes The Arrangement into a dark, delicious fantasy, one that feels voyeuristic even when it’s telling a scripted story.

The Arrangement features a different kind of royalty, but like more than one fairy-tale princess seeking happily ever after in Hollywood, the glass slipper comes with a darker side to it.

The show needs more juice. Instead of skirting away, it needs to embrace the story that inspired it.

If anything, The Arrangement plays it a little too straight and sedate. An injection of just a little crazy would make the whole enterprise more fun.

The pacing is off, the script is thin and obvious, and the acting is spotty.

I don't know whether I wanted The Arrangement to be realer or trashier or funnier, but it needed to be something more.