TV Movie Review: John Adams (HBO Miniseries)

As a rule, even though I am a history buff and love historical films, I am not a big fan of biographical films about politicians, especially politicians who lived way before the 20th Century.

I suppose it is because (a) Hollywood biographies tend to cherry-pick through the subject’s life to reinforce certain story points the writers or directors want to make, and (b) pre-20th Century set movies tend to be costume dramas as well as history lessons. These are unavoidable realities, but I tend to feel restless when I sit down to watch any flick set before 1860.

So when a friend of mine loaned me his three- DVD set of 2008’s HBO miniseries John Adams, I was quite prepared to simply set it aside for about a week and then return it, unwatched, with a polite thank you note attached.

Since I really don’t know as much about the American Revolution and the early days of the Republic, I figured I ought to at least watch Part One to see why John Adams had gotten so much good buzz.

Luckily, Kirk Ellis did such a great job of adapting David McCullough’s book about the second President of the United States, played wonderfully by Sideways’ Paul Giamatti, that I watched all seven parts and found it worth watching.

Also starring Laura Linney (The Nanny Diaries, The Other Man) as his wife Abigail, the series covers pivotal events in the first half-century of the young American nation. Its focus is on Adams, a brilliant, vain and sometimes arrogant man who nevertheless helped the cause of America’s independence in various ways and, as President of the United States, was able to avoid an unnecessary all-out war with France even though it cost him a second term in the then-new White House.John Adams also examines the man’s complex and sometimes stormy relationships with other Founding Fathers, especially Benjamin Franklin (Tom Wilkinson) and Thomas Jefferson (Stephen Dillane). His family life – a loving partnership with his wife, but an often difficult and even tragic relationship with his two sons and one daughter – is depicted as well.

Director Tom Hooper and his film crew and editors did a fantastic job of recreating the late 18th and early 19th Century political and military scene of America’s birth as a nation, and the pacing and tone are excellent. What could have been a boring bio-epic is instead a very moving and interesting look at one of the most underrated Founding Fathers.