Critic Reviews

Edginess is not the point, and if it's pure enjoyable escapism you're after, True Lies is hard to beat. [27 Feb - 12 Mar 2023, p.4]

Mr. Howey is rather colorless, but his lack of palette serves his co-star well: Ms. Gonzaga ("She-Hulk: Attorney at Law") is the spark that lights up "True Lies," which is a pretty funny show when not trying to dazzle us with car chases, gunfights and displays of computer graphics that are probably gibberish.

“True Lies” has the potential to fulfill that fundamental mission, but it still has a way to go before justifying its existence.

This is “True Lies” in title only. The film’s concept has been reduced to a paint-by-number, light CBS procedural. If that’s the type of programming you enjoy, have at it. Just don’t expect anything more.

Despite their best efforts, Howey and Gonzaga can only do so much with the writing they’ve been given. The new True Lies is just the latest example of a big-budget movie that has been fed into the machine that is network TV.

CBS’ True Lies is much more in the vein of the network’s semi-recent reboots of things like Magnum, P.I. and MacGyver and Hawaii Five-0. It’s a trifle, not a blockbuster.

In other words, it’s fine — but there’s nothing new. If that’s the kind of show you’re looking for, then you’ll want to tune in. ... But if you’re expecting a deeper story, ongoing tension or layered characters, you may want to keep flipping.

This version of True Lies, created by Burn Notice's Matt Nix, barrels through what the film brilliantly set up in order to get to what the show will presumably be over however long it lasts, bringing up the question of why someone thought turning True Lies into a TV show was a good idea in the first place.

True Lies just falls flat in carving out its own identity. ... If the latest network iteration proves anything with its string of campiness and light laughs, it's that some stories should stay on the big screen.

This "True Lies" doesn’t have much energy when it becomes a show that’s not really about, well, lies told in marriage. Much worse than going for something that’s more “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” from the jump is how bafflingly dull the actual spy missions are in each episode.