Ranking Every HBO Miniseries From Worst To Best
30. Sharp Objects
In the wake of Big Little Lies and Gone Girl, 2018’s Sharp Objects attempted to get the band back together. BLL director Jean-Marc Vallee helmed this adaptation of Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn’s novel, and the combined forces of those cultural juggernauts created something that was… quite decent.
Sharp Objects lacks the heavyweight aura of Big Little Lies, and can’t match the sheer page turning thrill ride of Gone Girl (it’s also missing David Fincher’s steely, unemotional directing). Amy Adams is, as ever, superb in the lead role as troubled reporter Camille Preaker, imbuing her fragile character with power, but the show around her doesn’t equal her skill.
It’s a splashy murder mystery with a central character who possesses a tragic historical plot point too many. The series aims for southern gothic, but it ends up a little on the trashy side, spilling blood and dispatching shocks without much meaning behind it.
It’s exciting in parts and often brilliantly acted, by Adams and Patricia Clarkson in particular, but doesn’t quite add up to the sum of its parts.