The Crowded Room Review: Tom Holland’s Middling Psychological Thriller Offers a Dragged-Out Central Mystery (LatestLY Exclusive)

The Crowded Room Series Review: Tom Holland is simply a star who can't seem to get a break when he is not web-slinging in the MCU. He is fantastic as Spider-Man, but his work outside of that machine has been subpar. When I first saw the trailer for The Crowded Room, I thought it was going to be his defining moment because it is a big and serious role for him, and while Holland does his best, the show itself unfortunately lets him down. The Crowded Room Trailer Out! Tom Holland Struggles with Society and Reality in the Upcoming Series (Watch Video).

Created by Akiva Goldsman, The Crowded Room is an adaptation of the non-fiction novel The Minds of Billy Milligan by Daniel Keyes, and follows the young Danny Sullivan (Tom Holland), who after being involved in a shooting in Manhattan with his partner Ariana (Sasha Lane), is taken into custody by the police and held for questioning after being taken as the potential shooter. To crack the case is Rya Goodwin (Amanda Seyfried), a psychologist who must interview Danny and find out about the events that took place during the shootout and the reason behind it.

The Crowded Room, as the name implies, is exceedingly crowded. The series' major problem is that it can't decide what it wants to be and packs in far too many concepts without providing enough breathing room. On the one hand, it's a psychological whodunit, but on the other, it's selling itself as a tragic coming-of-age tale of a lonely youngster in rural America - these ideas don't exactly fit, and after viewing the first four episodes, I was left unsatisfied.

Tom Holland, who plays the young and troubled Danny Sullivan, is the one who attempts to hold things together. Instead of spinning his webs in New York, he is about to fire loaded firearms in the middle of a busy place, but why? That is the question that propels the majority of The Crowded Room ahead. The show is mainly built in the structure of an interview, where Rya, played by Amanda Seyfried, tries to extract answers from Danny, and the show fills in his past by showing us numerous flashbacks to his life, but the fundamental mystery gets buried in it.

Watch the Trailer: 

Danny pretty much walks into the stereotype of a man with an abusive upbringing who was forced to take severe measures due to society's ill will, and I don't think another sob story about a prospective shooter is necessary. Not to mention that the primary mystery of why the shooting took place is carried out in a haphazard manner. Imagine watching Taxi Driver and every questionable thought of Travis Bickle is backed up by a flashback showcasing the reason behind it – I just don’t think that structure particularly lends itself well to a long-format thriller, because nothing really moves here. The first four episodes definitely feel like a drag and don’t offer much to the viewers, and with six more on the way, I am not exactly sure if The Crowded Room will leave much of an incentive to return to. The Crowded Room: First Look of Tom Holland Unveiled from the Anthology Series (View Pic)

Yeah, The Crowded Room really packs in some impressive performances. Tom Holland and Amanda Seyfried are unquestionably highlights, but Sasha Lane and Jason Isaacs elevate the mediocre show as well. Even Emmy Rossum, who plays Danny's mother Candy, does an adequate job, despite the fact that her age gap with Holland has sparked much debate online. Oh well, only if the script could support them. Let's hope The Crowded Room redeems itself in the next episodes.

Final Thoughts

The Crowded Room is a thriller that, unfortunately, has its central mystery lost in a web of various side-stories. Tom Holland and Amanda Seyfried definitely try their best to elevate what’s given to them, but the writing and the format creates for a dragging experience that I certainly wasn’t very fond of. The first four episodes of The Crowded Room are streaming on Apple TV+ right now.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 09, 2023 09:57 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).