--- title: "Fosse/Verdon: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/fosse-verdon/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/tv/fosse-verdon" critics_score: 52 critics_reviews: 11 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Fosse/Verdon (2019): what the critics said Critics' score 52 from 11 reviews: 2 positive, 5 mixed, 4 negative. Most critics come away lukewarm. The praise gathers almost entirely around the two leads: Michelle Williams is singled out again and again for her Verdon, and several reviews find the pairing with Sam Rockwell, and the dance sequences they share, the best reason to keep watching. The period detail and the exact recreations of Fosse’s choreography are widely admired, even by those who admire little else. The reservations cluster in two places. Several critics find the story jumbled, hopping between timelines in a way that asks for a good deal of prior knowledge; The Times thinks it near impossible to follow without it. Others feel the series gives Fosse’s decline far more room than Verdon’s career, with Collider arguing hers is the more compelling story. The spread is wide: Den of Geek finds it a strong case even for newcomers to the choreography, while Vulture judges it made only for devoted students of showbiz history. ## Empire — Christina Newland Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 30 July 2019. The series is a stylish exploration of the power dynamics in the Fosse-Verdon marriage and creative partnership, with strong performances especially from Michelle Williams. It could have given more credit to Verdon and focused less on Fosse's personal decline. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/tv/reviews/fosse-verdon/) ## The Guardian Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 2 August 2019. The series dramatizes the toxic marriage and creative partnership between Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon but is let down by its oddly structured, jumbled narrative across multiple timelines. The lead performances by Sam Rockwell and Michelle Williams, especially their chemistry and dance sequences, provide the main highlights. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/aug/02/fosse-verdon-review-sam-rockwell-michelle-williams) ## The Hollywood Reporter — Daniel Fienberg Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 13 March 2019. Rockwell and Williams bring star power to this look at the Fosse-Verdon partnership, offering surface pleasures from the glitz and performances. It feels restrictive and waits for deeper meaning or gravity beyond the known story. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/fosse-verdon-review-1194519/) ## The Times — Camilla Long Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 3 August 2019. The glossy miniseries offers a confusing, convoluted account of the showbiz story that requires excessive background knowledge to follow and lacks sufficient dancing or clear narrative drive. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/camilla-long-tv-review-fosse-verdon-cindy-sherman-untitled-imagine-mortimer-whitehouse-gone-fishing-how-to-break-into-the-elite-fb3lkxwts) ## Variety — Daniel D'Addario Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 13 March 2019. The show accurately depicts the creative process and choreography but lacks the spark and originality of Fosse's work, feeling like familiar TV tropes. It is worthy as a reclamation of Verdon's influence but doesn't find its own rhythm as television. [Read the review](https://variety.com/2019/tv/reviews/fosse-verdon-review-fx-1203162323/) ## Vulture — Matt Zoller Seitz Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 9 April 2019. The series is made for hardcore fans of showbiz history, delivering sumptuous period detail and exact recreations but feeling heavy-spirited and too immersive, like a glitzier, slower cousin of Mad Men. [Read the review](https://www.vulture.com/2019/04/fosse-verdon-fx-review.html) ## Den of Geek — Alec Bojalad Rating 4/5. 17 March 2019. FX's Fosse/Verdon is a timeless story of love and infidelity wrapped in a dance nerd biopic, making a strong case for itself even to those unfamiliar with the choreography while delivering pitch-perfect performances from Rockwell and Williams. [Read the review](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/fosseverdon-review-spoiler-free/) ## The Ringer — Alison Herman Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 10 April 2019. The miniseries delivers engaging reenactments of Fosse and Verdon's creative partnership but struggles to balance its dual focus, leaning heavily on Fosse's story. It excels in scenes showing their collaborative dynamic but remains constrained by Fosse's own self-mythologizing in All That Jazz. [Read the review](https://www.theringer.com/2019/04/09/tv/fosse-verdon-episode-one) ## Consequence Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 9 April 2019. Early episodes focus more on Fosse with disorienting time-hopping, improving later with strong performances and relevant themes, though narrative sequencing makes it hard to invest fully. [Read the review](https://consequence.net/2019/04/tv-review-fosse-verdon-fx/) ## Paste — Amy Glynn Rating 8.0. 9 April 2019. Strong performances, especially by Michelle Williams, capture the self-destructive creative mind, but the show leans too heavily on overused tropes of the troubled artist. [Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/fosse-verdon/fosseverdon-fx-review-sam-rockwell-michelle-willia) ## Collider — Allison Keene Rating ★★. 9 April 2019. The series feels sluggish with too much focus on the insufferable ego of Bob Fosse, while the story of Gwen Verdon is far more compelling. [Read the review](https://collider.com/fosse-verdon-review/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/tv/fosse-verdon.md