John Adams (2008)
HBO Films

Description

John Adams is a HBO miniseries event that depicts the extraordinary life and times of one of Americas least understood, and most underestimated, founding fathers: the second President of the United States, John Adams. Starring Paul Giamatti (Sideways, Cinderella Man, American Spendor) in the title role and Laura Linney (You Can Count on Me, Kinsey) as Adams devoted wife Abigail, John Adams chronicles the extraordinary life journey of one of the primary shapers of our independence and government, whose legacy has often been eclipsed by more flamboyant contemporaries like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin.

Collected reviews and ratings

10 The Digital Bits | Bill Hunt

John Adams is likely to be the miniseries event of the year. It's simply not to be missed. Highly recommended.
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9.0 Washington Post | Tom Shales

"Adams" is the kind of classily intelligent production that can be happily recommended to everybody.
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9.0 Amazon user reviews

The series features great acting, poignant scenes, and memorable oratory. But what really got me was how it transported you to that time, when life was a series of great heroics, but was also harsh, gritty, and so unforgiving.
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8.3 Entertainment Weekly | Ken Tucker

The miniseries, based on the best-seller by David McCullough and directed with a minimum of fuss by Tom Hooper (Longford), makes its strongest secondary figure Adams' wife, Abigail, played with iron-willed delicacy by Laura Linney.
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8.0 Wall Street Journal | Nancy Dewolf Smith

It is a lesson in nation building that no one who sees it will ever forget again, even if they are not moved to tears by the opening sight of ancient flags and banners.
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7.0 Salon.com | Heather Havrilesky

Far from epic, "John Adams" is a biopic as intense and moody as the man himself.
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7.0 Variety | Brian Lowry

The adaptation is meticulous almost to a fault, including a fidelity to language and accents (a hybrid between British and American) that initially appears to handcuff some of the cast --beginning, most glaringly, with Giamatti, fresh off his turn as a jollier icon in "Fred Claus."
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7.0 DVD Talk | Jeffrey Kauffman

Sticking almost exclusively to the intimate side of his life, while letting the broad historical events play out in the background, Adams is fueled by two knockout performances by Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney.
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