Not so long ago, Owen was "the next big thing" in Hollywood and, in fact, appears twice in my IMDb list of BEST ALL-TIME films. Now, in 2024, he is back again as the "re-imagining" of the greatest detective of all time, transplanted through both time and space to, of all places, France in the 1960s. With a credit roll of Executive Producers that reads like an award list at the Academy. What to make of this? First, every star has the right to remake themselves if they wish. And Owen wished. Second, if the makeover ends up being one of the most surreal series ever to hit streaming media -- makes Perry Mason, a certified ratings hit, look like a documentary in comparison -- so much the better. Ironic indeed that France has earned an international reputation in their own media for preferring the unusual, the road less traveled. Monsieur Spade is all that, and more. It is literally its own innate strangeness that makes it entertaining. Not the plot. And not Owen's accent. In the immortal words of Monty Python, this really is something completely different. And, like French wine, an acquired taste. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))
Review of Monsieur Spade
