TV reviewers wrote that Hillary and Chelsea Clinton’s new Apple TV series “Gutsy” lacks “depth,” “personality,” and more.
In one recent review from The Hollywood Reporter titled, “‘Gutsy’ Review: Hillary and Chelsea Clinton’s Blandly Uplifting Apple TV+ Docuseries,” the reviewer said even “pro-Clinton viewers” might struggle with the fact that both “Clintons are lackluster as TV hosts” despite all their decades in the spotlight.
The review explained that the causes the Clintons highlight are ‘largely unobjectionable” as long as your politics align with theirs.
“For a certain type of viewer — say, a devoted Clinton fan or a budding feminist in search of role models — it might make for a decent primer on the broad spectrum of issues affecting Americans today, from motherhood to environmentalism to the fight for LGBTQ rights,” the article reads.
“However, in its restless, relentless quest for uplift, the series turns away from complexity, depth or even much in the way of personality,” it added. “While Gutsy’s good intentions make it hard to dislike, its shallowness also makes it difficult to love.”
The review added that neither Clinton “seems quite at ease with the purposefully casual vibe of the docuseries, or all that eager to reveal any more of themselves than they already have.”
“They have reason to feel plenty exposed already,” the piece read. “Nevertheless, it makes for unsatisfying TV when the two central figures are made to look so irreproachable they’re downright distant.”
Here's what's coming up next for September 9: #Gutsy
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S1, Ep 5https://t.co/gaEGtQgjFW pic.twitter.com/zDroG9Dias— Apple TV+ (@AppleTVPlus) September 9, 2022
The review concluded that despite the series’ impressive “list of heroes” and “issues they raise,” the docuseries seems to be “stubbornly focused on spreading good vibes as far and wide as it can” instead of possibly courting “contention and controversy” by challenging approaches dealing with harassment, the justice system and more.
Reviews on Rotten Tomatoes were mixed.
One said, “Quickly enough, the gulf between how excited the hosts were to have these experiences versus how dull it was to watch them grew too large for this viewer to cross.”
“Here is the woman I sincerely hoped would be the 45th president of the United States of America trapped like some ebullient mother-of-the-bride in an endless rehearsal dinner where all the speeches comprise nothing but self-help woo-woo,” another added.
“The encounters themselves vary in interest, but it is the series construction that really cheapens them: Even the most heroic stories can feel facile when dispensed in quick succession,” another concluded.