Ratched is lurid, violent, sexually explicit, outrageous, and has nothing whatsoever to do with Ken Kesey’s novel or Milos Forman’s award-winning film adaptation.
The latest series from producer, writer, and director Ryan Murphy is as decadent and indulgent as his previous work. Indeed, no one seems able to say no to this guy, certainly not Netflix. Like many viewers, I enjoyed Hollywood, which was loosely based on the life of Scotty Bowers, a longtime pimp to the stars who was the subject of the fascinating 2018 documentary Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood. On the one hand, Murphy’s efforts to rewrite history and transform Hollywood into a friendlier place for gay people and people of color is admirable. On the other, his revisionism sometimes comes off as pretentious and condescending because we know it really wasn’t that way. Inequity continues to undercut the livelihoods of women and people of color. Also, this series boasts, as Murphy’s work usually does, gorgeous visuals, from stunning costumes and vintage cars to elegant sets. But the project feels a bit scattershot dramatically, even unfinished by its end. The result is that even a stellar cast (including Patti Lupone, Dylan McDermott, and Holland Taylor) couldn’t save Hollywood from feeling like a very glitzy, well-acted bit of fluff.
