ERIC (2024) – Scattered narrative over-burdened with too many topics
Rating: ⭐⭐

Benedict Cumberbatch plays a complex character, Vincent, who has an unhappy marriage and frustrated worklife as a puppeteer in a hit Muppets style TV show. He often brings his frustrations home and display bouts of aggression towards his son to release his bitterness. This affects his young son who one day goes missing on his way while walking to school alone. The show centre around Vincent’s efforts in finding his son back. He uses his son’s pet vision of an imaginary giant monster that lies under the bed by the of Eric, to try and lure him back by creating Eric as a new character in his TV show.
Eric has all the elements for a touching human drama. But the film makers here seem to be over ambitious in trying to cram in too much subtext over the main plot, rendering it feeling unfocused. Set in the 1980’s the subplots involve a gay black cop his grappling with society’s stigma and discrimination at that time. It also has secondary characters and theme to depict corruption of the rich and their exploitation of the poor homeless people. Within this busy landscape, the show tries to make some sort of statement on various topics like drug addiction, homophobia, mental illness, parental neglect, homelessness, racism, corruption, the AIDS epidemic, pedophilia, alcoholism, regret, suicide … the list goes on and on. There are times the show felt disconnected, with many scenes that felt repetitive and redundant. I can pick up several characters who can easily be excluded from the show without impacting the overall story. I suspect the series would have worked much better if it eliminated many of its supporting characters and trimmed down several episodes from its total of six episodes.
Amazingly amidst all the mess, there is one saving grace, its star. Benedict Cumberbatch is an accomplished actor and his proves that he can rise above the occasion and be better than the show despite all the distractions and poorly written script that he has to deliver. His Vincent comes across as sympathetic even with all his flaws. The moment he had with his son in a scene towards the end was tender and felt genuine. If only the rest of the series was that good.