The Casting Couch

The Casting Couch

Monday, May 14, 2007

Pilot Review: Eli Stone

"Eli Stone"
ABC PILOT

Jonny Lee Miller, Natasha Henstridge, Victor Garber, and Loretta Divine

Concept: A lawyer working for a top law firm starts having interesting visions/hallucinations. After later discovering that he has a brain annurism, he starts to believe that perhaps he is a modern prophet whose life should now be dedicated to helping people through his work.

Review: Luke warm yet again. This just felt like I've seen it all before. It's very "Ally McBeal" in its quirkiness and lawyer-based plot lines. Plus, didn't Billy have a brain annurism towards the end of the series too? A lot of the dialogue and plot points seem very contrived...for example, he takes the case of the woman who he lost his virginity to and who had a child by him that is now autistic as the result of the corporation's drugs AND his fiancee practically dumps him seconds after he finds out he has a brain annurism. Oh, did I mention Tom Cavanagh does a cameo as his "drunk" father? I mean, come on. Are we supposed to believe that? They didn't even attempt to dirty up his image a little.

Jonny Lee Miller. He's so awkward looking, really. Still, there was a quirky charm about him in this role...very Adam Brody plus 20 years. It seemed kind of endearing, plus his character is dying afterall so you start to feel for the guy.

Natasha Henstridge. Wow, she looks amazing by the way. I really liked her, which I'm not sure what to make of because I think that you're not supposed to like her character. She plays Eli's slightly snobby and hard-hearted fiancee. Still, I kept pulling for her and not the other chick he was supposed to be helping. There's a raw quality about Natasha that just doesn't work as a cold-hearted bitch...its what made Species work b/c even though she was running around killing people, you felt sorry for her. Maybe they have a sweeter side planned in the series that could really make this character work.

Victor Garber. I love Victor. He has that morally-questionable lawyer thing down to a science. Plain and simple, he's a fabulous actor and I like what he could bring to a series like this. Plus, to find out he was also playing Natasha's dad was fab.

Loretta Divine. Usually I LOVE and ADORE Loretta. However, I just didn't like seeing her as a secretary I guess. Her sweet tough-as-nails approach should have worked here, but it didn't really for me. I see her as being in more of a power position than that.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actually the son was not his. I guess you weren't paying much attention to the show.

Anonymous said...

Exactly. The son is not his, as his being pointed out very clearly by the mom. From the dialogue we learn that they were toghether 15 years ago and the son is just 8 years old. Quite a pregnancy wouldn't you think?

Google