What We're Watching This Fall — And What's Actually Worth Your Time

Rarely does Eddie Murphy sit down for in-depth interviews these days, much less invite the general public into his mansion home to peel back the curtain on his life. That’s why many were delighted to hear that the reclusive “Raw” comedian is finally the subject of a long-overdue documentary that does just that in Netflix’s “Being Eddie.”

For the first time, the film shows Murphy looking back on his unprecedented career in entertainment, recalling his meteoric rise from a “Saturday Night Live” breakout to a stand-up superstar to a box-office sensation that delivered all-time classics across several decades. Although the doc is as intimate as a 103-minute runtime allows to recap a nearly 50-year journey, “Being Eddie” is still a gratifying look at how one man — a Black man in Hollywood at that — reached the upper echelons of fame and success and lived long enough to tell his own story, even if it’s a truncated version.

The documentary begins by recalling Murphy’s childhood and start in comedy before turning into a highlight reel of his iconic filmography. In between, friends and peers like Arsenio Hall, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Dave Chappelle, Jamie Foxx, Jerry Seinfeld, Kevin Hart, Pete Davidson, Tracy Morgan and more all appear as talking heads to fill in their own stories of the comedic legend. But “Being Eddie” works best when it allows Murphy just to be his raw, honest, funny self on his own (I still can’t get over him saying “Ridiculousness” is “the best show on TV”), even better when he’s not.

In one touching scene, he addresses the passing of his big brother, Charlie Murphy, and talks about his views on death and grief — “I just touch little memories. I don’t be going and wallowing in it.” In another, he explains why he rejects labels like “stand-up comedian,” “actor” and “musician” — “I’m an artist who can express hisself a bunch of different ways.”

These are the moments I tuned in for; too bad there are only a few like them. A lot of what “Being Eddie” offers is already public knowledge, so it doesn’t feel like we’re learning a lot of new information about Murphy. Even the insight about some of his classic films sounds regurgitated from other sources. But, thankfully, the film still feels like somewhat of a decent portrait of Murphy’s life.

In less than two hours, “Being Eddie” proves how and why Murphy became a star in a league of his own. Still, I’d like to think a multi-part docuseries might’ve done his complete story a bit more justice. The documentary only left me wanting to know more, but I guess that’s also a testament to Murphy’s career. Even after all he’s given us over the years, we just can’t get enough.

“Being Eddie” is streaming on Netflix.

“Death By Lightning” is currently the No. 1 TV show on Netflix — and for good reason. The four-part historical drama is an intriguing look at the assassination of James Garfield (Michael Shannon) after his fast rise to the presidency and its even faster end.

Matthew Macfadyen is incredible in his role as Charles Guiteau, a delusional Garfield fan who seeks a role in the administration. And when he doesn’t get it, he seeks revenge. Garfield, who was elected as the Republican candidate at the 1880 Republican National Convention, was shot by Guiteau several months into his presidency on July 2, 1881. He died that September.

“Death By Lightning” manages to make a dark moment in history educational, engrossing and somehow hilarious. Macfadyen channels some of that erratic Tom Wambsgans energy that “Succession” fans know and love in portraying the failed lawyer-turned-assassin Guiteau. Nick Offerman is also perfectly cast as Vice President Chester Arthur, who reluctantly takes on the presidency after Garfield’s death.

Shea Whigham plays the powerful New York figure Roscoe Conkling, and Bradley Whitford is Secretary of State James G. Blaine. Vondie Curtis-Hall has a recurring role as abolitionist and author Frederick Douglass; Shaun Parkes is Dr. Charles Purvis, the Black doctor who attended to Garfield immediately after he was shot. The series explores how Garfield actually died due to infection, since his doctor, Willard Bliss, refused to adhere to new research about the effectiveness of antiseptics. (I promise those scenes with Dr. Bliss will infuriate you.)

Betty Gilpin steadily portrays Garfield’s wife, Lucretia, who gives a stern yet palpable speech to Guiteau as he awaits execution.

The series is only four episodes; it’s the perfect length to get you totally engrossed in these characters and then feel fulfilled enough to move on to the next show. I could go for another 10 four-part dramas from Netflix with this kind of star-studded cast and intriguing lesser-known history lessons. Please and thank you.

“Death By Lightning” is streaming on Netflix.

In Season 1 of Vince Staples' eponymous comedy, the central question that tied the satirical series together was, “Who is Vince Staples?” Over the course of five episodes, the rapper, playing a fictionalized version of himself, ventured to answer that query with a surrealist dive into his daily life of absurd misadventures, deadpan humor and wisecracks about his low-key fame. In Season 2, though, things take a grim turn, as the new question becomes, “What has Vince Staples been going through?”

According to his “work of fiction,” quite a lot. As Season 2 goes, Vince, reeling from the recent death of his Uncle James, embarks on a chaotic journey to find inner peace amid grief. But along the way, he’s constantly confronted with reminders of his past, most of which tie back to memories of his late uncle.

Unlike last season’s self-contained structure, Season 2’s episodes all build off one another to culminate in the events that lead to Uncle James’ funeral. And thus, everything that transpires up until then takes on a more gloomy tone than I was expecting.

It’s definitely a departure from the show’s debut season, which was widely praised for its alt brand of comedy that found itself in conversation with shows like “Atlanta,” “Dave” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Don’t get me wrong, the laugh-out-loud humor and hysterical cameos — including an always-funny Zack Fox (“Abbott Elementary”) and a very random musical appearance from R&B crooner Bobby V — are still ever-present. But for the most part, Staples’ dark comedy is just plain old dark in its second season, and a whole lot more bizarre.

The first episode takes Vince on a detour from road tripping to his uncle’s funeral, as he gets into a dramatic fistfight at a car rental agency after offending one of the workers (who dabbles in music on the side). Another episode has him discover a members-only Black excellence social club, where all the white employees address him as “Black king” and play “Who killed Massa?” as an icebreaker. That’s not as wild as Vince getting roped into a shootout on the way to deliver his uncle’s eulogy.

While the antics are still aplenty in Season 2, I wish it came with just as many laughs. I will say, it’s cool that Staples has used his slice-of-life show to bring something different to the TV landscape when other shows these days feel much less inspired. I just hope it sticks around long enough to find its groove finally.

All episodes of “The Vince Staples Show” are streaming now on Netflix.

This post contains spoilers for the first episode of “It: Welcome to Derry."

"It: Welcome to Derry" wasted no time making a killer first impression Sunday night — and in the most epic, unexpected, blood-curdling way to kick off the prequel.

The series, which predates the events of the first film in Stephen King’s “It” series, traces the origin story of the murderous entity It, also known as Pennywise the Clown, and the eponymous town’s dark history.

Set in 1962, the first episode introduces a younger Losers Club who you think will be the main focal point of the season, but “Welcome to Derry” subverts that expectation almost immediately with its first kill — Matty Clements (Miles Ekhardt), an unsuspecting young boy who, one night after leaving the local movie theater, hitches a ride with the family from hell (quite literally, it seems), who have been possessed by It. We can only assume that he’s killed by the flying demon baby the pregnant mom gives birth to in the car, but Matty’s whereabouts remain unknown.

Fast forward four months, and we meet Matty’s fellow outcasts — Phil (Jack Molloy Legault), Teddy (Mikkal Karim-Fidler), and Lilly (Clara Stack) — who are still grappling with his “disappearance.” They soon suspect that Matty may have been the victim of something far more sinister when Lilly tells the others she heard his voice through the drain of her bathtub and saw his bloodied fingers pop up.

Their suspicions lead the trio, plus Phil’s little sister Susie (Matilda Legault), back to the local theater — operated by Ronnie’s (Amanda Christine) father, Hank (Stephen Rider), who’s a suspect in Matty’s disappearance — to figure out what happened to Matty the night he went missing. What happens next, though, is a twist that steers everything into utter chaos.

In short, all the kids except Lilly and Ronnie are viciously murdered in a gruesome horror scene when the killer demon baby reappears — so, well, no more Losers Club for now, I guess. Just when we thought we had Matty’s search-and-rescue crew that would ultimately take on It, “Welcome to Derry” left us with a cliffhanger that promises anything can happen in this era of the “It” universe. And with that in mind, it only heightens the excitement for these next seven episodes.

But that storyline doesn’t even begin to cover all of what’s apparently going on in Derry. There’s still the matter of the local military base that brings Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo), his wife (Taylour Paige) and son (Blake Cameron James) to town amid all the craziness happening in town. Needless to say, whatever happens from here is sure to be a wild (bloody) ride.

New episodes of “It: Welcome to Derry” air on Sundays on HBO.

This time last year, Kristen Bell and Adam Brody’s “Nobody Wants This” was the breakout rom-com of the season that actually did the genre justice (despite its criticized portrayal of Jewish women), and had audiences saying the exact opposite of its title. Unfortunately, Season 2 of the Emmy-nominated Netflix series is living up to its name.

To be fair, “Nobody Wants This” doesn’t stray too far from its original premise this time around. After somewhat accepting their religious differences, Joanne (Bell) and “hot rabbi” Noah (Brody) continue navigating their relationship in Season 2, albeit with even more challenges that test whether the unlikely couple can survive their wildly different lifestyles.

The most charming part about the show’s debut season was Joanne and Noah’s courting/falling in love phase, which was much more entertaining to watch than seeing their rocky relationship on the verge of falling apart. Season 2 makes it clear that the honeymoon phase is officially over, as Noah’s dilemma about Joanne converting to Judaism only grows more urgent to the point that, yes, it almost tears them apart again.

What I loved most about “Nobody Wants This” was that it was a lighthearted watch about a swoonworthy romance, but most of that magic is lost in Season 2. The writers of the show seemed to listen to viewers’ complaints about how characters like Esther (Jackie Tohn) were portrayed as mean and nagging, finally giving her a bit more depth as she navigates marital troubles with Sasha (Timothy Simmons). However, they forgot to maintain the magic that made us fall for the show in the first place.

As quick as I binged Season 1, I found it daunting to power through Season 2’s episodes just as fast. Some just weren’t that interesting, while others felt like a rehashing of Season 1’s storylines. Case in point: Season 2’s finale is basically a remix of Season 1’s, another fairytale ending for Joanne and Noah after they briefly split.

If this is the best the show has to offer now, then, indeed, nobody wants this for another season. Considering how things end, it might be good to call it quits before the series runs its course.

All episodes of “Nobody Wants This” are streaming now on Netflix.

Jeremy Allen White trades one moody, introspective persona for another as the titular anguished rocker in Scott Cooper’s Bruce Springsteen biopic, “Deliver Me From Nowhere.” The film, based on Warren Zanes’s 2023 book of the same name, is by no means the typical, life-spanning account we’ve come to expect from most musician portraits on the big screen.

Instead, Cooper’s movie hones in on a pivotal period for Springsteen in the early 1980s, when the singer-songwriter was on the brink of global stardom and battled depression as he recorded his famously dark album, “Nebraska.” Over its two-hour runtime, we see a then-young Springsteen wrestle with the demons of his past and the crushing pressures of his success.

In some respects, “Deliver Me From Nowhere” follows the biopic clichés of black-and-white flashbacks and the tormented musician who can’t sustain a healthy relationship. But in others, once it moves beyond those aspects and the “Nebraska” recordings, it breaks from tradition to probe Springsteen’s life on a much deeper level, aided by White’s restrained performance.

White, best known for his intense turn in “The Bear,” is much more subdued playing a burdened Springsteen. But his quiet intensity serves Cooper’s story well in moments where the director lets us inside the singer’s head. While I can’t say White completely disappears into his role — his Jersey accent comes off grating at times — he does a fairly decent job embodying Springsteen both onstage and in solitude.

Now, I’m admittedly not the biggest Springsteen fan, nor was I that familiar with his story before screening the film. Still, I found myself surprisingly absorbed by “Deliver Me From Nowhere” in the moments that didn’t harp on Springsteen recording one of his most personal works in his New Jersey bedroom.

Jeremy Strong gives a tender performance as Springsteen’s manager and friend, Jon Landau, although Cooper annoyingly uses the actor’s character to over-explain Springsteen’s inner turmoil through parts of the movie. On the other hand, Odessa Young, as the single mother with whom Springsteen has a failed romance, adds some depth to the film that allows Cooper to explore the most intimate aspects of the singer’s life — like one affecting scene where Springsteen burst into tears during a therapy session as he finally confronts years of trauma.

“Deliver Me From Nowhere” tends to veer toward melodrama in depicting this chapter of Springsteen’s life, but that’s when the film feels most alive. At times, the movie comes off like an overextended homage to “Nebraska” rather than an examination of the man behind it. Yet the parts that look at Springsteen on a more emotional level manage to balance it all out.

“Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” is now playing in theaters.

“One Battle After Another,” Paul Thomas Anderson’s talk-of-the-town action-comedy epic, is currently dominating the mainstream movie discourse, and it’s very easy to see why.

The film, which hit theaters last Friday, follows a band of radicals who go into hiding after one resistance mission turns deadly. Cut to 16 years later, washed-up, paranoid revolutionary Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio) has been living off the grid with his self-reliant daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti), after being abandoned by her mother, the former activist Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor), as a baby. When Bob’s longtime nemesis, Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn), resurfaces and Willa goes missing, the former radical and his daughter are forced to battle the consequences of their pasts.

That’s the shorthand version of a sprawling, nearly three-hour plot packed with themes of political violence, power, white supremacy, good vs. evil and so much more. As overloaded as that sounds, Anderson pulls it off with an uber talented ensemble cast — which includes Regina Hall, Benicio del Toro, Wood Harris, Tony Goldwyn and rapper Junglepussy — and a bonkers plot that’s as chaotic as it is compelling.

After seeing the film myself, I can say the hype is just about everything critics have hailed it to be, for the most part anyway. It’s bold, kinetic, thrilling, highly entertaining and so nerve-racking that you might on the edge of your seat the entire time, especially during the car chase scenes at the end. As far as performances go, Infiniti is the biggest standout, even as a newcomer making her film debut. Taylor is a close second, even though her presence is limited to the first act.

Those are some of the film’s strengths, but calling it a "masterpiece,” as some critics have, is a stretch, in my opinion, largely due to some of the questionable racial dynamics that undercut the storytelling. The issues begin with the fetishization of Taylor’s character and continue through a subplot involving Willa’s mixed-race parentage — namely, a paternity case between Bob and Lockjaw, on account of an assumed one night stand the latter and Perfidia had. That fact later complicates Lockjaw’s membership to an elite white supremist club, which is a whole other ordeal that leans way too much on Perfidia as a plot device instead of a whole being — which feels especially uncomfortable given her absence for most of the movie.

But even with those flaws, I still enjoyed “One Battle After Another” for what it was, an adrenaline-fueled ride. Some dots just needed more connecting for it to make better sense.

“One Battle After Another” is now playing in theaters.

Hot boy of the moment Glen Powell is turning off his Hollywood hottie persona to morph into Chad Powers on Hulu’s new comedy series. The series, co-created by Powell and Michael Waldron, was adapted from Eli Manning’s viral ESPN sketch.

Powell stars as Russ Holliday, a former college football star who has a huge fall from grace at a championship game. (That intro scene is so good that it’ll pull you right in!)

Soon after, Holliday slaps on some prosthetics to become the titular character so he can walk on as quarterback to a new football team. It’s a fun concept albeit it’s been done a zillion times before — and better. (There’s a scene that shows a billboard of “Mrs. Doubtfire” that’s as cheeky as it is cheesy.)

But what “Chad Powers” has going for it is that it’s only six episodes and the episodes are 40 minutes or shorter. That is one thing I can get behind: a TV show that doesn’t take itself too seriously and lets audiences enjoy it and not think too hard.

The first two episodes of “Chad Powers” are streaming on Hulu. The following episodes will debut weekly on Tuesdays.

I’ve been faithfully watching “The Morning Show” since after its breakout first season made waves (although, with so much TV to keep up with, it took me a minute to power through Season 3). However, I’ve fully committed to the messiness of this newsroom drama, no matter how far it spins out of control, or seems to be losing steam in its latest season.

The Apple TV+ series returned for Season 4 on Sept. 17, springing forward two years after the shocking UBA-NBN merger, led by Alex (Jennifer Aniston), and Bradley (Reese Witherspoon) and Cory’s (Billy Crudup) exits from the company. Even after parting ways, they all wind up back in the building together when an investigation into a previous company cover-up threatens to put the network in jeopardy again. All this happening while UBA’s in the thick of promoting its Paris Olympics coverage after acquiring the rights to cover the Games — which the newly-merged network needs to stay above water.

It’s the same song and dance “The Morning Show” has done for the last three seasons of ripped-from-headlines plots that ultimately boil down to saving the company and keeping the newsroom intact.

While Season 4 manages to throw some juicy drama in between — like now-CEO Stella’s (Greta Lee) steamy affair with the board president’s husband (Aaron Pierre) — this cycle is starting to grow a bit stale. I’ll still be tuning in, but since the show already been renewed for a fifth season, I hope there’s a plan to get it back on course and give it some actual direction. Otherwise, it’s just another series overstaying its welcome.

New episodes of “The Morning Show” premiere weekly on Wednesdays.

TV land lately has been filled with shows that are accidentally (or purposely) mirroring real-world politics. Prime Video’s hit series “The Boys” has lived in that space shamelessly for most of its four-season run now, and its college spinoff series “Gen V” falls right in line, too, especially in Season 2.

The show, which returned on Sept. 17, follows a group of super-powered students at Godolkin University as they sniff out a sinister conspiracy about a supe-killing virus at their college. The spinoff runs parallel with the timeline of “The Boys,” with Season 2 picking up just after the inherently fascist, Trump-like figure Homelander (Antony Starr) seized control of America and declared martial law at the end of the flagship show’s fourth season, with every superhero across the nation reporting to him. That goes for the supes at God U, too, where MAGA influencers and the conservative Vought have the upper-hand on campus, making it even harder for Marie (Jaz Sinclair), Jordan (London Thor/Derek Luh) and Emma (Lizze Broadway) to expose what they know has been happening at their university.

The parallels between “The Boys” universe and the Trump 2.0 era are too spot on to ignore. As many times as creator Eric Kripke has said his superhero satires aren’t trying to predict the future, they’re always on point with what’s happening in our current reality. Perhaps these overexaggerated (yet oddly accurate) depictions of American politics are more of what we need right now to understand what we’re losing in this country. In any case, it’s another show that’s unafraid to go after the president and his supporters at a time when so many institutions are bending the knee. Let’s see what else “Gen V” has to say this season.

New episodes of “Gen V” premiere weekly on Wednesdays.

Who wants to watch an hour-long commercial? Not me.

But somehow, “On Brand With Jimmy Fallon” reeled me in with its first two episodes. The new NBC series, hosted by Fallon and marketing exec and “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Bozoma Saint John, has recruited a handful of influencers and marketing pros to come up with ad campaigns for brands like Dunkin’ Donuts and Southwest Airlines. They are competing to not only have their ads showcased nationwide, but also for a chance to win $100,000 and get a feature in AdWeek. It premiered on Sept. 30 and airs twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays.

In the first episode, the contestants are working for Dunkin’ Donuts. Quite frankly, I was impressed with many of the campaigns. Ultimately, Ryan, who created the Breakfast Built for Doers campaign, won the “innovator of the week” for his working-class-centered breakfast campaign. He told a touching story about watching his dad get up and go to work every day, and created a special lunch pail called the PowerPail and fashioned it as new Dunkin’ merchandise.

Despite hearing some endearing stories from the contestants, the show seems like a cash grab by NBC — I mean, I imagine that these brands are paying the network hella money for all this ad placement. Fallon is perfectly fine as the host of the show; he literally says like three lines each episode trying to encourage the contestants to come up with their best ideas. Saint John just seems like window dressing as a co-host, mostly because of her long resume as a marketing executive.

With so few new network shows this fall — “On Brand” is the only new show on NBC this season — people might just end up tapping into this one every week. But if you’re looking for a truly fun and engaging reality TV competition, I’d say you could skip this one and check out one of the new game shows on Fox.

“On Brand With Jimmy Fallon” airs Tuesdays and Fridays until Oct. 17. The final two episodes air Oct. 24 and 31. It streams on Peacock.

Netflix’s “Ruth & Boaz” caught my attention when Tyler Lepley (“P-Valley,” “Harlem") and Serayah (“Empire”) were announced as the movie’s leads, but the biblical love story hook is where things got a little shaky for me. The film, co-produced by Tyler Perry and DeVon Franklin, is billed as a modern-day reimagining of the story of Ruth and Boaz from the bible. In the film, Ruth Moably, a rising Atlanta hip-hop artist, leaves behind her small-time fame after tragedy strikes. She seeks a fresh start in rural Tennessee while she cares for her late boyfriend’s mother (Phylicia Rashad), and there she finds new purpose through an unexpected romance with generous vineyard owner Boaz (Lepley).

I’ll be honest, my expectations for “Ruth & Boaz” were very low, considering the film’s association with Perry. As we know, the filmmaker has a shaky track record with making decent films, and we’ve hardly ever seen him get behind a wholesome Christian project. This is also the same man who created, wrote, directed and executive produced Netflix’s “Beauty in Black,” among other extremely explicit shows. So I truly didn’t know what to expect from this.

To be fair, “Ruth & Boaz” was directed by Alanna Brown and the screenplay was written by Michael Elliot and Cory Tynan, so it seems in different hands, a solid film backed by Perry is still possible. And while I’m sure lots of die-hard Christians will nitpick over how accurate the movie is to the actual biblical story, I can at least say “Ruth & Boaz” wasn’t completely insufferable. As a romance, it was a cute film, and the cast’s chemistry seemed to flow nicely. It gets a pass from me.

“Ruth & Boaz” is now streaming on Netflix.

When “Reasonable Doubt” concluded last season with Jax (Emayatzy Corinealdi) and Lewis (McKinley Freeman) getting served with a wrongful death lawsuit on their doorstep — having just come up from air from the verge of divorce, and Jax helping her best friend, Shanelle (Shannon Kane), avoid prison time from her murder trial — I knew we were in for loads more drama to come.

And with the three-ring circus that kicks off Season 3, the series certainly doesn’t disappoint.

But before we get there, a quick refresher on how the second season wrapped up: most of it revolved around Shanelle’s highly publicized trial, where she was charged with first-degree murder in the death of her abusive football player husband JT (Christopher Mychael Watson). In a shocking twist, it was revealed that their daughter had accidentally killed him while trying to protect Shanelle from his wrath, and Shanelle was let off the hook. Meanwhile, fallout from Lewis’ affair with his mistress Toni (Tristan Cunningham) came to light, which included the death of their baby, which Toni is now suing Lewis and Jax over.

The latter carries over to Season 3 as Jax, Lewis and Toni are in the thick of litigating the issue just as the former gets entangled in another legal nightmare, unbeknownst to her. Enter Ozzie Edwards (Kyle Bary), the former child star who seeks Jax’s services to help clean up his image now that he’s up for a major franchise movie role. The optics around his personal dealings with a stylist (who he’s in love with) could derail that opportunity, according to his team, though Ozzie feels differently. Those cracks in his circle begin to show early on, but especially when his stylist girlfriend goes missing and he comes up as the No. 1 culprit — and thus, Jax finds her latest courtroom battle.

But not without a colleague who’s trying to make partner at her firm cutting in on her territory. Last season, it was Morris Chestnut’s Corey Cash getting in Jax’s way, but this time, it’s Bill Sterling (played by “Power” star Joseph Sikora), who’s playing both sides of the fence to kiss up to the other partners and get on Jax’s good side. We’ll have to wait and see how that’ll play in his favor. But knowing “Reasonable Doubt,” things will only get messier from here.

The first few episodes of Season 3 set up a missing person’s case-turned-murder trial that seems like it’s going to take a lot of dark turns. And because I’ve already screened half the season, I’ll stop here to avoid giving away any more spoilers. Just know, there’s still a lot to look forward to — including some juicy secrets that’ll blow you away.

New episodes of “Reasonable Doubt” premiere on Hulu on Wednesdays.

There are two reasons I was mildly excited to see “The Man in My Basement.” One, I love Corey Hawkins' acting, so I’ll pretty much check out anything starring him. And two, I’ve always been intrigued by book-to-movie adaptations because it’s interesting to see how the page material translates to the silver screen. Will it stay true to the original story? Will it be better?

Unfortunately, in the case of Nadia Latif’s adaptation of Walter Mosley’s 2004 novel (a film the duo also co-wrote together), the answer is no. And the reason is why most critics have panned the film.

Like Mosley’s book, Latif’s take on “The Man in My Basement” is a theme-heavy tale set in the African-American neighborhood of Sag Harbor, New York, where down-on-his-luck Charles Blakey (Hawkins) is out of a job and on the verge of foreclosure on his ancestral home. That is until Anniston Bennet (Willem Dafoe), a mysterious white businessman, shows up on Charles’ doorstep with a lucrative proposition — one that would clear the slacker’s debts — to rent his basement for the summer. After some reluctance, Charles gives in, but Anniston has some rules.

Said rules are part of an oddball experiment Anniston has set up in Charles’ basement, where he has locked himself in a prison-like cage he set up himself and demands to be kept there as part of what he calls a “spiritual journey.” Charles is, of course, horrified at the thought of someone stumbling upon a Black man keeping a white man prisoner in his basement, but eventually goes along with the ruse. All the while, he’s having his own spiritual reckoning of sorts after stumbling across some family history in his house, which a local antique dealer, Narciss (Anna Diop), helps him sort through.

From there, “The Man in My Basement” goes from strange to bizarre to downright confusing, as Anniston’s experiment begins delving into the film’s true intentions, interrogating philosophical messages steeped in race, power dynamics, heritage, identity, guilt and plenty more, I’m sure. The problem is the movie spends so much time presenting these big ideas, they never amount to much substance. And the ending gets buttoned up so quick, the only thing I could say once the credits rolled was, “WTF?”

The best parts of “The Man in My Basement” are anytime Hawkins and Dafoe share scenes. The way they play off each other, even with a challenging script at play, is quite impressive. And although Dafoe’s lengthy monologues add to the film’s confusion, he delivers them with such passion. Same for Hawkins, as he embodies Charles’ tense, unpredictable personality so well you almost feel like you’re going through the motions with him.

But alas, their performances don’t make up for all the other missteps the adaptation takes. As much as I wanted to like the film, it left me more frustrated than anything.

“The Man in My Basement” is now streaming on Hulu.

By now, it’s no secret that “Him,” the Justin Tipping-directed, Jordan Peele-produced sports horror flick, isn’t the stellar blockbuster some expected it to be when it hit theaters on Sept. 19 — although its premise did seem promising.

In an effort to answer the question, “What would you sacrifice to become the greatest of all time?” “Him” follows the journey of Cameron Cade (Tyriq Withers), a rising-star quarterback who has sacrificed everything and devoted his entire life to the game of football to fulfill his late father’s (Don Benjamin) wish of becoming the GOAT. His dreams are jeopardized after a mysterious stranger hits him in the head on the football field and gives him a traumatic brain injury.

But just as all hope is lost, Cade’s idol, Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans), a legendary quarterback and current GOAT — who also plays for Cade’s favorite team, the San Antonio Saviors — invites the young prodigy to his remote compound for a week of intense training to prove he has what it takes to replace White once he retires. However, as Cade’s training ramps up, and White’s ritualistic test gets more deranged, the young quarterback discovers that he’s expected to sacrifice much more than just his blood, sweat and tears for the sport he loves to attain a near-impossible dream.

This is more or less when “Him” starts to fall apart, as it tries to blend elements of horror with social commentary on a gladiatorial sport that, by its message, often leaves Black men broke down, beat up and ultimately screwed over by white ownership for their entertainment. Its effort left critics less than impressed, though.

The initial reviews were harsh, with criticisms on everything from the movie’s muddled messaging on the dangers of professional football and exploitation of Black bodies to its failed attempts at venturing into actual scary territory.

Some of those points are valid. I, too, had a few concerns with the film, particularly its oddly handled fight-to-the-death ending that hardly feels in service to the point that the film tried to make. I also wish “Him” had invested just as much time into White’s backstory as it did Cade’s. It would’ve been helpful to know why his football-obsessed character ranked the sport over everything else in his life, family and God included, and why he turned out the way he did. That might’ve answered a few questions about his demise as well.

Still, there are some forgiving aspects of “Him” that are being overshadowed by bomb reviews online.

Like the impressive, dramatic performance of Wayans, which comes as no surprise if you’ve seen the actor in this bag before (see his roles in “Requiem for a Dream,” “Respect,” “Bel-Air,” etc.). The usually comedic Wayans brother plays a menacing mentor-like figure to Cade, who goes completely off the rails by the movie’s end. His part makes up for an awkward script written by Tipping, Zack Akers and Skip Bronkie. Similarly, Withers, who’s relatively new to Hollywood, holds his own next to his co-star and uses his personal experience as a former college wide receiver to his advantage where it counts.

On the other hand, I still have mixed feelings about Julia Fox playing White’s celebrity influencer wife and why she had such an involved role in the film’s ending. But her acting wasn’t terrible.

Overall, performances saved “Him” where it otherwise lacked. However, the discourse surrounding the film hasn’t been as nuanced, with some who saw it opening week giving it an immediate thumbs down.

Whatever the opinions of “Him” are, I think it’s important to remember it’s still a film worth engaging with. Allowing critics’ reviews or first reactions to dictate whether people want to see a movie feels like letting others’ opinions control our own. And all that does is limit the perspective through which we view art (or whatever you categorize “Him” as).

Wayans responded to negative reviews of “Him” by acknowledging that critics’ work “shapes our industry, but an opinion does not always mean it’s everyone’s opinion.”

“Some movies are ahead of the curve,” he noted on Instagram. “Innovation is not always embraced and art is to be interpreted and it’s subjective.”

“I’ve had a career of making classic movies that weren’t critically received and those movies went on to be CLASSICS,” the actor added in his post, including screenshots of low Rotten Tomatoes scores for some of his cult classics, like “White Chicks” and “Scary Movie.” “So don’t take anyone’s opinion just go see for yourself.”

“Him” is now playing in theaters.