Dave Nemetz Reviews The Lowdown: Ethan Hawke Glides To Greatness In FX's Cool And Quirky Neo-Noir
Every once in a while, a veteran actor steps into a role that is so perfectly tailor-made for them, it feels like the culmination of their entire career. Ethan Hawke finds just such a role in FX's The Lowdown, a shaggy, Coen-esque neo-noir with stylish visuals and an appealingly laid-back vibe. (It premieres this Tuesday at 9/8c; I've seen the first three episodes.) It's a fun ride on its own, but Hawke takes it up a notch, delivering a hilariously eccentric lead performance that ranks as one of his best ever — and one of the best we've seen anywhere on TV this year.
Hawke plays Lee Raybon, a "chronically unemployed" writer who runs a used bookstore and hands out "business cards" he scribbled by hand on loose slips of paper. He calls himself a "Tulsa truthstorian," penning investigative pieces for local papers that call out injustice — and getting himself into a lot of trouble in the process. When the black sheep of a prominent Tulsa family dies by suicide, Lee starts digging around and uncovers a dense web of infidelity and corruption that sees him crossing paths with violent skinheads, ruthless business jerks in fleece vests and porn rag publishers with flamboyant eye patches. (Well, OK, maybe just one of those.)
Series creator Sterlin Harjo also created the highly underrated Hulu comedy Reservation Dogs — Hawke had a great one-off role there, too, as a deadbeat dad — and here, Harjo seems to delight in turning back the clock, dreaming up a noir-tinged throwback with a wide array of colorful characters spouting off clever dialogue. (When Lee walks in looking bruised and battered, a friend quips, "You look like you f–ked a werewolf.") The Lowdown drips with the romance of the written word, celebrating poetry and classic literature, and it spins a lighthearted mystery with shades of The Big Lebowski, as Lee gets in way over his head. (Is he really being followed, or is he just stoned?) It's also strongly rooted in Tulsa, with local color to spare, and maintains an oddball sense of humor, even in perilous situations. (This guy gets beat up a lot.)
Hawke anchors the whole thing, too, with a charmingly off-kilter performance. Lee is squirrely with a crooked smile, and the people in his life tolerate his flights of fancy, even though they've heard them a hundred times already. Hawke has done the book-smart wise-ass routine before in Reality Bites and Before Sunset, but he's in his 50s now, and Lee's weathered face adds a layer of poignancy to his antics. (He's seen better days, but he's not ready to throw in the towel just yet.) He's backed up by a superb supporting cast as well, including the honey-voiced Keith David as private eye Marty, the Buffy reboot's new slayer Ryan Kiera Armstrong as Lee's daughter Francis and the always-great Kyle MacLachlan as slick gubernatorial candidate Donald Washberg.
The Lowdown, I should note, does threaten to disappear into its own quirk at times. It moseys along at a deliberate pace, and the meandering narrative tends to wander around like Lee after one too many hits of his vape pen. But that's OK: This show dances to its own beat. It's not trying too hard to impress us, and that's endearing, in a way. It's worth checking out just to bask in Hawke's greatness. Lee feels like the hero of an old paperback crime novel you might find in the discount bin — and if we're lucky, maybe that book has a few sequels to it, too.
THE TVLINE BOTTOM LINE: Ethan Hawke is fantastic as a scruffy truth-seeker in FX's The Lowdown, a laid-back modern noir with charm to spare.