• Photo Courtesy Of Netflix
• SWOLLEN Jeff Daniels stars as Atlanta real estate mogul Charlie Croker, who discovers his empire is crumbling, in the Netflix miniseries A Man in Full, based on Tom Wolfe's novel.

What's it rated? TV-MA

When? 2024

Where's it showing? Netflix

Charlie Croker (Jeff Daniels) thinks he's got the world by the tail. He's the biggest real estate developer in Atlanta after all, a man who travels by private jet, has the ear of politicians, and gets what he wants when he wants it. That is until sniveling mid-level banker Raymond Peepgrass (Tom Pelphrey) gets a bug up his butt about Croker's severely leveraged financial position and enlists his higher-up, Harry Zale (Bill Camp), to put the screws to Croker and force him into bankruptcy. What follows is Croker's desperate fight for survival.

Based on Tom Wolfe's 1998 novel but set in the present, this Netflix miniseries makes a game and entertaining attempt at capturing Wolfe's sprawling narrative and all its sundry subplots, but honestly, it's only somewhat effective. Daniels is, as always, a joy to watch chewing the scenery, this time as a Southern-fried patriarch with a younger wife (Sarah Jones) and an ex-wife he never should have left (Diane Lane). Croker pulls out all the stops—snake wrestling, really?—trying to woo an investor. He's too thick to understand how unsavory he truly is.

The series has its charms, but once again, Tom Wolfe's source material proves an elusive and untamable beast. (six 38- to 48-min. episodes) Δ