The Comey Rule

Gripes aside, "The Comey Rule" is a frightening and timely look at recent history and its repercussions. Actors will no doubt be biting into the role of Trump for years to come, but to top Gleeson they'll have to do a a heck of a lot of chewing.

If you can get past reservations about Ray’s idealization of Comey, Part 2 of The Comey Rule becomes a mesmerizing dramatization of a soul being slowly crushed.

“The Comey Rule” may feel a bit book report-ish to those who followed the 2016 election cycle obsessively, but there’s been so much water under the national political bridge since then that “The Comey Rule” remains engrossing for the small details amidst the familiar broad strokes of the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private e-mail system during her stint as U.S. secretary of state.

Uneven but entertaining. ... Daniels plays this righteousness and decorum to the hilt. ... Gleeson's accent and intonations waver, yet he captures an interiority the real Trump rarely exposes. It's a mediocre impression and possibly a great performance. Other standouts include a tragically hopeful Hunter and McNairy, whose weaselly, insecure Rosenstein, at times more Salieri than Brutus, represents an ideal compromise of tones that The Comey Rule hits only occasionally.

Comey's story in black and white, with not much shading in between.

Rather than letting loose a little, crafting an original psychological portrait of this inscrutable, high-ranking functionary, Ray gives us a series of labored impressions.

It posits that Comey is an imperfect but decent man who did what he thought was right and whose biggest flaw is an outsized ego. ... But the show fails to adequately contextualize Comey's mistakes, which are institutional rather than just personal. It's a failure as an attempt to clarify recent history, made worse by a series of artless creative choices.

Absolutely refreshing to see exactly what was going on behind the scene. I feel horrible for Comey. Trump was crazy from jump. Never knew that there was that much craziness from early days! Dump Trump!

The Comey Rule nos cuenta la historia de James Comey, quien fue director del FBI desde el comienzo de la presidencia de Obama hasta principios de la de Trump. Si bien su historia se centra especialmente en el periodo de la investigación de los emails de Hillary Clinton y cómo eso influyó en las elecciones de 2016 que harían que Trump ganase, el centro de la serie es una discusión muy interesante sobre la ley, el respeto, la interferencia rusa en las elecciones, etc. Para contar esta historia, que en el fondo tiene pocos “hechos interesantes” a nivel cinematográfico, pocos momentos épicos y que además cubre largos periodos de tiempo, especialmente el último año de Comey en el FBI, la serie se sostiene durante sus cuatro horas en un conjunto de actores que están simplemente soberbios, en una puesta en escena muy trabajada y en un papel suave pero apropiado de la música. Todo esto hace que nos metamos de lleno en lo que nos está narrando, y nos deja espacio a cada uno para llegar a nuestras propias conclusiones. Para un comentario más social sobre los temas tratados en esta miniserie: ****/the-comey-rule-la-ley-de-comey/

The series reminded me a lot of "Newsroom", also with Jeff Daniels. Like in "Newsroom" there are a lot of good actors, a smart script and a wittyness and brillance in dialogue. However, somehow both series don't manage to really hit the mark. The characters are for the most part a little bit too superficial and therefore the series leaves hardly any deeper impression in the aftermath. Daniels as Comey is excellent, as are many actors in the FBI crew. But the Trump camp is often depicted a little too close to caricature (it's probably a hard task to avoid this since many of them are caricatures in real life). The hardest parts are obviously Trump and Obama since they are such distinct personalities. And it's a little bit a problem that their actors rather feel like imitators than real life persons. After all, it's an interesting watch (I watched it in one night), alone for the insights into the facts. But unfortunately not the great mini series, that it potentially could have been.

Not entirely bad, but it was bland and more than unnecessary, because it doesn't explain anything new.

The first part of this was fairly entertaining on a surface-level, but it really struggles to stay compelling throughout its 4 hours. Rarely does anyone feel like a character, which I almost understand since they're portraying real people. But while that might work for something like Captain Phillips (whose screenwriter directed this), The Comey Rule is just a series of dull boardroom meetings that cover years of news but with little to no insight. This might've had potential with writing like Aaron Sorkin or Tom McCarthy, but as is, none of the dialogue feels compelling or character-driven. The sequencing of events is brutally slow-paced because the film is unwilling to make any creative liberties. I would understand if this was a docuseries, but it's not. There's some nice moments throughout, I was most intrigued by Comey's scenes with his family, as they portrayed a lot of behind-the-scenes conversations and brought up some fascinating moral arguments about the work he did. It's also mildly enjoyable to see famous actors show up as whoever. But overall, this can't even measure up to the type of Emmy's award bait that it wants to be.