Colin Farrell channels Humphrey Bogart as a noir detective in ‘Sugar’: review
08.04.2024 - 15:18
/ nypost.com
squarely among their tradition. Farrell joins Matthew Rhys (“Perry Mason”) and Clive Owen (“Monsieur Spade”) in the group of heavy-hitting recent actors who have dusted off the genre. The show constantly makes us wonder if his disposition is a front.
Sugar is investigating the case of Olivia Siegel (Sydney Chandler), a beautiful young ingenue who’s missing. Her grandfather, legendary Hollywood producer Jonathan Siegel (James Cromwell), has tapped Sugar to find her. So the show explores the seedy underbelly of a glamorous backdrop.
Sugar also has a girl Friday of sorts, Ruby (Kirby Howell-Baptiste). The show is peppered with his monologues that are edged with moody undertones.“Finding people that are lost, bringing them back to those that miss them — that part of the job I like,” he says during one voiceover, while soft jazz plays in the background. “It makes the occasional knife fight and ruined suit worthwhile.
It’s a tough business, but steady,” his voiceover continues. He also remarks about the “sadness in the eyes” of some people whom he comes across. So it’s like a checklist of the genre, but it’s light on its feet and proceeds smoothly enough that it doesn’t feel like a mere checklist.
The story is filled with twists and turns, and isn’t told in linear order; it’s comfortable jumping around in time. Viewers who enjoy the genre are in good hands with “Sugar.” There’s a lot of family drama and secrets to dig into: Olivia’s producer dad, Bernie (Dennis Boutsikaris), isn’t too concerned about her whereabouts, and neither is her half-brother, former child actor Davy (Nate Corddry), or her stepmom, Davy’s mother (Anna Gunn), providing a long list of suspects. (Sugar’s voiceover muses that the smarmy Davy seems like a
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