Neon Adds The Comey Rule

One of the dramas that inexplicably have been missing from NZ screens, The Comey Rule, at last has surfaced.

Instead of going straight to DVD, like Belgravia and Yellowstone, or into distribution purgatory, like Doom Patrol and Raised by Wolves, the two-part mini-series is streaming on Neon.

It was abruptly added to the Sky platform on Thursday and was such a late addition that it didn’t figure in media updates about Neon.

At least the timing was perfect given the fall-out from the US election.

The Comey Rule stars Brendan Gleeson as President Donald Trump and Jeff Daniels as his FBI nemesis, James Comey. It earned mixed reviews in the US when it controversially premiered on Showtime ahead of the election in September.

Even left-wing publications like The Hollywood Reporter were in two minds, calling it “uneven but entertaining …

“Those seeking confirmation that Comey is a villain, either for torpedoing Hillary Clinton in the lead-up to the 2016 election or complicating Trump’s early tenure with the Steele dossier or other Russian inquiries, will find it.

“Ditto anybody who chooses to view Comey as a paragon of the ideals of service, however self-destructive.”

Observed the Wall Street Journal: “As constructed by writer-director Billy Ray, The Comey Rule will be a gripping yarn even to those already familiar with Mr. Comey’s history.

“And its cast of familiar faces will provide a degree of amusement to a narrative that’s not otherwise a lot of fun.”

The Rotten Tomatoes consensus? “Despite some impressive performances, The Comey Rule‘s chaotic approach to current events clarifies very little, further obscuring the facts of already confusing circumstances without adding much insight.”