The Slap: US reviews

ABC’s The Slap recently had its US premiere on cable channel DirecTV.

By the sound of these reviews, American critics like what they see.

NY Times:
For an American viewer this may feel like John Updike country, especially in the first episode centered on Mr. LaPaglia’s Hector, the birthday boy — he’s a classic Updike man-child, terrified of turning 40, cut off from his wife (Ms. Okonedo) and family, slipping in and out of an affair with the baby sitter. A truer comparison would be to the dark, smart dramas of the Australian playwright and screenwriter Andrew Bovell (“Lantana”), who helped adapt an earlier Tsiolkas novel for the film “Head On.” There are dangers inherent in this kind of project — too grim, too clichéd, too many easy epiphanies — that “The Slap” largely but not entirely avoids in its opening episodes, and which could rise up to smite it before it’s over. There are signs of growing complexity in the characters that bode well, though, and it seems likely that the excellent cast will be worth sticking around for in any case.

Variety:
Among the more recognizable members of the cast are Jonathan LaPaglia and Sophie Okonedo (featured in the premiere) as a married couple and Melissa George (pictured) as the mother of the kid. Once you get past some of the cultural idioms — didn’t know the pharmacy is “the chemist” Down Under — the situations are highly relatable, and the storytelling is realistic, tough and spare. Having watched two episodes, I found the second less compelling than the first, which focuses on the LaPaglia character and his flirtation with a teenage girl. Even so, it’s an extraordinarily ambitious concept that has found a ready audience elsewhere and should connect with a discriminating one here as well.

Media Life Magazine:
Plotlines featuring cancer, unplanned pregnancies, May-December relationships and infidelity are staples of TV soaps, both daytime and prime-time. But “The Slap” dramatizes them all as if it were the first time. Whether the characters behave in expected or unexpected ways, their behavior rings true. And the smaller moments are as carefully observed as the larger ones. The actors are generally excellent, thanks in no small part to sharp but believable dialogue that reads flat but resounds in context. Based on a novel of the same name by the Australian author Christos Tsiolkas, “The Slap” benefits from the fact that it has a planned end. Though Australia is known for sharks, we can be pretty sure this series won’t jump one.

Slate:
The Slap takes place on the other side of the world, but aside from the accents and the unfamiliar slang, it feels familiar. On the surface, all is multicultural suburban bliss, but here and there are whispers of racism and domestic violence kept quiet from the neighbors. There are subtle class snobberies and the clash of immigrants against the born-heres. There are the dilemmas of modern parenting: too much television, too much food, too much stuff. In one scene, a lengthy conversation takes place entirely without eye contact as a father and son sit side by side, staring at a screen, battling each other in a video game.