Netflix: “A Man in Full.” starring Jeff Daniels

I somehow never got around to reading “A Man in Full,” Tom Wolfe’s novel about the intersection of race, politics and business in late-1990s Atlanta. But maybe I should have, because David E. Kelley’s six-episode adaption of the novel for Netflix is unsatisfactory.

Jeff Daniels plays Charlie Croker, a raging-bull, larger-than-life real-estate mogul. As the series opens, he is confronted by Harry Zale (Bill Camp), and Raymond Peepgrass, his wormy associate (“Ozark’s” Tom Pelphrey). They notify Croker that they intend to call in his loans amounting to more than $1 billion, which would cause him financial ruin.

Indignant and unwilling to be bossed around by anyone, Charlie feels especially betrayed by Raymond, whom he regards as little more than a gofer and whom he derisively calls “Peepee.” Raymond for his part has always harbored a searing resentment of Charlie, Goliath to his David, and revels in Charlie’s misfortune.

Meanwhile, Charlie’s secretary Jill (Chante Adams) is married to Conrad (Jon Michael Hill), who in a moment of rage gets into an altercation with an Atlanta policeman. Conrad is remanded to notorious Fulton County Prison, where inmates regard him as red meat. Charlie’s house lawyer Roger White (Aml Ameen) is recruited to serve as Conrad’s lawyer even though he does not have bona-fide criminal law experience. The racist judge (Anthony Heald) refuses the lawyer’s pleas for leniency.

A third story revolves around the local mayoral campaign, where the Black incumbent, Wes Jordan (William Jackson Harper, currently in “Uncle Vanya” on Broadway) is losing ground to a white opponent who is playing the race card. The only way the mayor can regain the upper hand is to bring up an instance where the opponent may have sexually assaulted a woman when he and Charlie played football together at Georgia Tech.

Still with me? That’s good because director Regina King ping-pongs among the three stories and treats each superficially. Too bad because the cast is excellent. Daniels gives an over-the-top performance as Charlie. “World’s gonna make men like me extinct, that’s what they’re gonna do,” he says, reveling in self-pity with his jarring Foghorn-Leghorn accent.

The cast also includes Diane Lane as Martha, Charlie’s ex-wife, and Lucy Liu as her good friend Joyce, the alleged assault victim.

But top acting honors go to Pelphrey as Raymond. Stewing in his hatred of Charlie, he woos Charlie’s ex, and in a final scene that will be remembered long after this series is forgotten, offers an ending that will give all other series’ endings stiff competition. #iykyk.

Nobody comes off looking good in “Man in Full”—not the characters, the actors that play the characters, or Atlanta itself. The self-proclaimed “city too busy to hate” should hate this six-hour waste of time six ways till Sunday. It’s not worth one minute of yours.

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