The Last Tycoon

The Last Tycoon--from Billy Ray and Christopher Keyser, executive producers and writers--has, in addition to its looks, superb writing, wit and huge ambition, its grasp of the passionate political heart of the era. There are no dead spots.

Matt Bomer is magnetic as Monroe Stahr, a golden-boy producer drive to churn out premium content to keep a struggling dream factory afloat. [21/28 July 2017, p.113]

Despite a somewhat dull leading man, The Last Tycoon is a relatively successful series, far more realistic and multifaceted than many of its fellows that attempt to show the seedier side of moviemaking in the Golden Age.

The Last Tycoon, like its lead, is spread too thin and is a bit shallow.

A wildly uneven series -- a Hollywood melodrama whose frothy soapiness produces a few strong performances and a host of clichés.

[The Last Tycoon is] full of awkward, hokey dialogue and clumsy contrivances. Even the production values are mediocre; the occasional clips meant to replicate ’30s-era movies are especially phony and unconvincing. Fitzgerald based Monroe on real-life studio executive Irving Thalberg, but the show has Thalberg appear as a separate character, and the consistently ineffective mix of real and fictional characters highlights how poorly the series captures such a fascinating world.

With its artificial look and shallow characters, the series is too transparent in the construction of its own illusion to be fully immersive.