The Critics Get Hold Sky Atlantic’s Vegas – Review Roundup

The Critics Get Hold Sky Atlantic’s Vegas – Review Roundup

Thanks to the Sky Channel, Brits can enjoy HBO’s television gems like The Sopranos and The Wire. But recently, the quality’s softened, especially after Luck was cancelled, so can Vegas change that?

Vegas - starring Dennis Quaid and Michael Chiklis - first appeared on CBC back in 2012, but it’s only just crossed the shores and premiered last night (Thurs, Feb 14th). We’re not sure how many girlfriends would be willing to invest in a new crime drama on Valentines Day, but we’re not here for ratings, we want reviews. So considering it’s been out for a short while in America, we have the benefit of a Metacritic score, which stands at a healthy, but not all-conquering 68% - and the British press reflect this. The Telegraph gave it 3/5 stars, saying, “Where Mad Men obsessively fetishises the period detail of swinging Manhattan, Vegas more casually evokes the era with the broadbrush strokes of vintage cars and planes and easy-listening music.”

The Independent are slightly more scathing the most, and without giving an overall score, write, “Pileggi's own crime record – as the screenwriter on GoodFellas and Casino – promises rather more than is actually delivered here. Vegas shows none of the fascination with backroom process that was a feature of both those films, opting instead for the unconvincingly pliable reality of a standard American cop show.”