Daily Times

There is something nice about seeing Tom Holland playing someone other than Spider-Man in the Apple TV+ series The Crowded Room. This isn’t because his take on the wall-crawler was bad, per se, but more that it felt like he was reaching a point where there was little that was challenging about it – for either him or the audience. Like many stars who get caught in the Marvel machine, there is a moment where you begin desperately hoping they make an exit before they’ve spent too much time trapped in its universe when they could have been trying out other parts. While some of Holland’s attempts to leave behind the web-slinging character have been overwrought, there have also been more promising works, like The Devil All the Time, where he showed he could tackle meatier parts. At first glance, it seems like this new series could similarly be one that gives him a lot more meat for him to sink his teeth into. Alas, the deeper you get drawn in, the more the story inexplicably holds you at a distance. Whether it is the manner in which it draws out its “mystery” to the point of frustration or how the subsequent fallout of its supposed surprise loses sight of Holland himself, The Crowded Room is aptly titled, more over-embellished than engaging. This all begins with a shooting in 1970s New York City that the 10-episode series traces backward and forward from. Believed to be behind it is the troubled Danny Sullivan who seems to be uncertain about what exactly happened.