American Hostage Review: Jon Hamm and Giovanni Ribisi Turn a 63-Hour Standoff Into Thrilling, Darkly Absurd Television

The new crime thriller American Hostage puts star Jon Hamm back to what he does best: appearing in a period-piece series and playing a charismatic, commanding character whose confidence covers something vulnerable underneath. It also helps that Hamm found a project whose story is so absurdly entertaining that no one would believe it if it wasn’t true.

That’s the key to MGM+‘s American Hostage, a new streaming series so good it works as much as a black, cynical comedy as it does a hostage thriller. Of course, the writing is sharp enough that the show reflects today’s thoughts on big business targeting the poor to get rich, and it has much to say about the state of today’s news reporting while also questioning eachother’s role.

What is MGM+’s American Hostage about?

The story follows Fred Heckman (Emmy Award winner Jon Hamm), who is the most trusted voice on Indianapolis radio. Heckman is news director for WIBC-AM radio, the Walter Cronkite of “The Circle City.” Fred, a family man, is mulling over a job opportunity in New York City. His wife, Barbara (The Killing’s Mireille Enos), knows he wants to ditch the small pond.

As you can imagine, Fred is respected around town and by his staff, including veteran reporter Ben Hairston (The Good Place’s William Jackson Harper) and the rookie, Ginny (June Laporte of The Last of Us fame). But that is about to be tested, as the biggest story in the city’s history is about to ignite a firestorm of opinions that will divide almost everyone

That’s because Troy Kiritsis (Giovanni Ribisi) is about to take his mortgage broker, Dick Hall (Kristoffer Polaha), hostage. Why? Because he believes the mortgage company engages in predatory lending and foreclosure practices, and he wants his property back. He’ll only talk to Fred, the most trusted voice, yada yada yada, on the radio to help expose the corruption.

MGM+’s American Hostage Review

The new series is from uber-successful Shawn Ryan (The Shield, S.W.A.T., The Night Agent) and Eileen Myers (Big Love), based on the podcast of the same name. The series is refreshingly funny. Dry, darkly comic, and awkward, the type of absurdist bent that lands its mark. Much of that credit goes to Ribisi, as the story revolves around the characters he’s played for decades.

For example, when Troy takes Dick hostage, walking in the cold with a shotgun attached to the man’s neck with a dead man’s switch, Troy slips on black ice. He forgets where he parked his car and gives up his spot to an older adult. This is basically Ribisi’s Frank from Friends. The character is goofy, impulsive, and socially awkward, but strangely earnest rather than unintelligent.

As for the story, this was during a time when authorities cut corners. At this point, the news was on a tape delay, so real-time reporting was today’s social media catnip. The story was irresistible then, as it is now, especially the hostage-negotiation process. This is class warfare, viewed through a media lens of institutional failure, that has modern relevance without a modern setting.

Is MGM+’s American Hostage worth watching?

American Hostage works because, on many levels, the series is a high-concept drama that works as a thriller, character study, and black comedy. America’s appetite for conflict, outrage, and stories of institutional failure remains the same. The story exposes what the American viewer, consumer, and citizen already know:

Even before today’s technology existed to amplify it, the hunger for a story this extraordinarily powerful and relevant was already there. Even if the hostage plot stops moving, the fertile subjects do. The result is a story as relevant today as it was almost fifty years ago. Thrilling, absurdly funny, and incisive, with a keen eye for media, class, institutions, and American culture.

You can stream American Hostage exclusively on MGM+ beginning September 18 with a two-episode premiere. New episodes will be released every Friday through the season finale on November 1. All eight episodes were screened for this review.

American Hostage Review: Jon Hamm and Giovanni Ribisi Turn a 63-Hour Standoff Into Thrilling, Darkly Absurd Television