Apple TV’s new series The Crowded Room was already a major milestone in Tom Holland’s career given that it’s his first leading role in an episodic production as well as his maiden foray into the world of producing, but it’s gone and set another benchmark for all the wrong reasons.
At the time of writing, the hard-hitting drama currently boasts a Rotten Tomatoes score of only eight percent, which gives it the unwanted distinction of being the actor’s single worst-reviewed project ever. Not to sound too harsh, but Holland hasn’t been on the hottest streak recently, but worse than Chaos Walking? And Dolittle? Now that’s something we never expected to hear.
Of course, the waiting bosom of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is lurking on the horizon, even if he’s planning to take a year out from acting after putting himself through the emotional wringer for The Crowded Room. Suffice to say, it hasn’t turned out to be worth the sacrifice if the critics are to be believed, although audiences are well within their rights to make their own minds up.
He’s got his whole career in front of him, but it would also be fair to say that Holland could also do with either a critical darling or a box office smash hit sooner rather than later, with a combination of the two being ideal. The downside is that with his sabbatical now coming into force, only the inevitable Spider-Man 4 and his Fred Astaire biopic remain on the docket, although each of them have the potential to tick all of the requisite boxes.
The Crowded Room was a swing and a miss, then, but worse than Dolittle? Seriously? That takes some comprehending.