Kevin Hart and Taraji P. Henson Lead A Star-Studded Cast That Helps ‘Fight Night’ Punch Above Its Weight: TV Review
variety.comAlison Herman TV Critic Since the state of Georgia passed the nation’s most generous tax incentives for film and TV production, Atlanta has boomed into what’s often deemed the “Hollywood of the South.” But for all the shoots that use the city as a backdrop, there are few that actually center it as a dynamic metropolis worthy of its own mythology. (The list basically begins and ends with Donald Glover’s namesake FX series, and a handful of reality shows.) The Peacock limited series “Fight Night,” adapted by creator Shaye Ogbonna (“The Chi”) from the 2020 podcast of the same name, is a welcome break from this status quo, using a fateful evening in 1970 to explore Atlanta’s rise as a center of Black culture and prosperity — even if some of the architects of that ascent were less-than-savory characters.
But “Fight Night,” subtitled “The Million-Dollar Heist,” isn’t luring viewers in with the promise that it’s portraying, per its title card, “some shit that really happened.” The eight-episode limited series has one of the more star-studded casts this side of “Big Little Lies,” led by Kevin Hart and Don Cheadle as two men stranded between worlds.
Hart plays Gordon “Chicken Man” Williams, a small-time hustler who hopes to impress Black Mafia boss Frank Moten (Samuel L. Jackson) by throwing an afterparty for Muhammad Ali’s comeback boxing match.
Williams leads a double life represented by his two romantic partners: wife Faye (Artrece Johnson), with whom he attends church every Sunday, and mistress Vivian (Taraji P.
Read more on variety.com