Truly Dreadful Film

Am I Missing Something?

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Sorry to say, I'm adding this after the show has been canceled.There are those who have given the show a less than stellar rating, based on its comparison to its Aussie counterpart; that is unfair.Barely out of the gate, having just developed the characters & story lines that make us love them, FOX pulled the plug.RAKE is smart, intelligent & funny. Greg Kinnear's Keegan Deane is the guy you hate to love. Loved John Ortiz' great character development of Ben Leon, coming out of the shadows after the death of his father. With a combination of wit & reality reminiscent of Ally McBeal & Boston Legal, RAKE is the best show to come along in years.FOX is doing itself a disservice by not giving the show its full support, and time to build its audience. With a commitment from cast & crew, some of the finest in the industry, and with a growing audience, FOX should have extended the same commitment to the show and to its viewers.I really encourage FOX to bring back RAKE, give it the support it deserves, and ride the wave of success this show will attain!

I really couldn't care less how this compares to the original Rake, I love this one (but I am excited to check out the original while waiting for new episodes). The first episode I was mildly interested in but by the third episode I was hooked. Some of the characters in this show are just so utterly ridiculous that you can't help but laugh out loud at them. In the first episode it seemed a little too ridiculous but after watching more episodes you see that no, they really are real people, and they get by just fine being who they are without any excuses. I've never seen anything like this show before but I love it. Humans being humans, nothing funnier.Edit: OK, so while waiting for new American episodes I'm checking out the original and I couldn't disagree more with the other reviews. The American version has me busting a gut laughing out loud while the Aussie version is more of a court room drama. The Aussie version is completely lacking in the sheer incredulity that makes the American version so hilarious. The dialogue and main character in the Aussie version seem too serious, he has it too together, whereas the main character in the American version is just barely hanging on by the skin of his teeth, which provides for far funnier situations and dialogue. I can only imagine that the reviewers preferring the Aussie version can't handle the American one, as they are quite different shows. The new one cranks it up to 11, it's the show that Rake should have been and now thankfully is.

Most of the criticisms of this show are based on comparisons to the Aussie version. Not having seen that one, I can just say that I am really enjoying this series. Why do I like it? Keegan Deane is an attorney who takes on some unusual cases, to say the least, yet his personal life is a mess. He is a compulsive gambler, alcoholic, and all around narcissist. He has a loan shark on his tail constantly, has no car, money or place to live...well, you get it. Yet, we manage to like him. Greg Kinnear is great in this role.I especially like the unique spin they put on some of Keegan's cases, such as the beard-cutting Amish and the cannibalism case. Tara Summers is great as his assistant, and I like that they don't employ the sexual tension angle, which in my opinion is way too overused. My main criticism of the show is that the editing is often choppy.Rake is compelling, fresh, energetic and funny. It seems that fans of the Aussie version want it to fail, but I hope it doesn't. I look forward to watching it!

Managed to sit through the whole first episode, not because it was enjoyable, simply because I needed to see if it would ever have the humour and pathos of the Aussie original. It was evident from the start that Greg Kinnear is no Richard Roxburgh, nor does he have the believable entourage of actors that Roxburgh enjoys for support. Roxburgh is a year older than Kinnear and their acting careers began about the same time, but Roxburgh's handling of the role of Cleaver shows a much more professional understanding of the character portrayed. Both men have long acting careers but Roxburgh comes across better as the gambling, womanising lawyer. We can empathise with and feel his frustrations, his joys and his fears. I shan't spoil it for those members of the American audience not familiar with the original by giving away any secrets but the Australian original is now in its third season: I shall be very surprised if the US version makes it to the end of season one.