The Offer

 

This show is easily my new favourite limited series. The Offer is a dramatized telling of the making of The Godfather. This show is so brilliant and so well written. I had never seen The Godfather before watching this series (I have now, don’t hate me), and I liked that you didn’t have to watch the movie to understand what was happening or to be entertained.



The characters are so strong and well-developed. My favourite characters were Robert Evans, Al Ruddy, Francis Ford Coppola, and Bettye McCartt. All of whom are based on real people. I loved the dynamic between Ruddy and Bettye, I liked that they had a male/female friendship without it being romantic. Bettye is also so fun and badass, she doesn’t take anyone’s crap (especially Ruddy’s) and she runs the show. It was interesting to me how she does basically the same job as Ruddy but does not get anywhere near the same recognition. This cast is incredible. I love Miles Teller, Matthew Goode, Juno Temple, Colin Hanks, and Dan Fogler. They are all very strong actors and watching them interact and see how these dynamics change throughout the show is really well done.



This show is so funny. I love that it is not super serious all the time and has a good balance of both. The dialogue in this series is genius, it’s so clever and quick. It makes the show really fun to watch and the characters just that little bit more interesting. I was never bored watching this show and every time I had to take a break from it I couldn’t wait to get home and watch more of it. I think they definitely could have made it shorter and told the same story, but I kind of liked some of the more “filler” material in the show.



They were really good at making the stakes feel high in this show and I always felt like I was on the edge of my seat. Even though you know the movie will get made, you know where they are going to film it, and you know what the cast will be, it is still set up in a way that you feel like the main characters might not get their way. I like that they were able to tell a completely original story about a movie people already know and love. The Godfather has a large fan base and this show was able to appeal to that audience even though it's so different. It's also interesting to see the parallels between the making of The Godfather and the actual movie The Godfather. By the end of the show Al Ruddy and Micheal Corleone seem to have a lot more in common than one would think. 



I really like how the show goes behind the scenes of making movie magic in the 70s. You get the whole process from start to finish of how the film was made and the backgrounds of all the key players. You feel very connected to the characters and you see all the sacrifices they make in their personal lives for the benefit of the movie. They believe in the project so strongly that they will throw everything but the kitchen sink at it to get it made. Even when literally everything is against the making of the film...including the mafia, they always find a way. My favourite story arc was when they were trying to cast the film and the budding heads between the filmmakers and the studio and how far they would go to get the right people cast in the film.



Overall, I really loved this series and I think it is very clever and original. I like how they found a way to use pre-existing IP in a whole new way. This is a very well-made, good-quality series. I really liked the look and feel of the show, and the attention to detail. Whether you are a big fan of The Godfather or not, if you love movies or the making of movies then this is a great show for you.