‘Ransom Canyon’ Review: Josh Duhamel and Minka Kelly in Netflix’s Generically Pretty, Thoroughly Bland Western Romance

It was round maybe the third episode of Ransom Canyon that I lastly realized what Netflix’s new Western-themed romantic drama jogged my memory of: Varsity Valley. Which, to be clear, is just not some tacky primetime cleaning soap however a parody of 1 — particularly, the one which performs in the foreground of Saturday Evening Stay’s “Waffle House” sketch, whereas absolute mayhem reigns in the background. In different phrases, it’s a “present” made particularly to be ignored, generic sufficient to slip proper off your mind however acquainted sufficient that you just get the essential thought anyway.

Ransom Canyon, although it’s a actual collection, feels a lot the identical. It’s featureless and formulaic, completely satisfied to borrow only a fraction of your consideration when you principally give attention to different issues. This isn’t totally a internet detrimental, or not less than not for everybody; background exhibits can have their place in an omnivorous TV food regimen. However it may possibly, the longer and extra carefully you attempt to watch it, make for a stultifying expertise.

Created by April Blair, the drama opens in the lengthy wake of 1 tragedy and on the fast precipice of one other. On the evening of his birthday, teenager Randall Kirkland (Hubert Smielecki) is killed in a automotive crash, devastating his father, Staten (Josh Duhamel), who’d additionally misplaced the boy’s mom two years prior. One 12 months out from Randall’s accident, Staten’s barely beginning to get out from beneath his grief, with the affected person and persistent help of Quinn (Minka Kelly), his late spouse’s greatest good friend and the proprietor of what seems to be the one bar in the sleepy Texan city of Ransom Canyon.

That Staten and Quinn are deeply in love, and possibly at all times have been, is apparent from the primary time we see them spot one another in a crowded room. However they’re unable to be collectively for … effectively, for no excellent motive, past Ransom Canyon’s must stretch out the will-they-won’t-they over a ten-hour season. Ditto the parallel romantic state of affairs unfolding among the many group’s junior set, involving good-girl cheerleader Lauren (Lizzy Inexperienced), her wealthy asshole boyfriend Reid (Andrew Liner) and her wrong-side-of-the-tracks paramour Lucas (Garrett Wareing).

The collection throws loads of different subplots into the combination too, together with the halfhearted thriller of what actually occurred to Randall (Staten is satisfied one other driver was current on the scene, to the good irritation of a sheriff performed by Philip Winchester); the devious plans by Austin Water & Energy to get ranchers like Staten to promote over their land for the development of a brand new pipeline; and the arrival in city of a mysterious drifter (Jack Schumacher’s Yancy) who dutifully fills the present’s quota for scenes of a buff shirtless man doing farm chores.

Nevertheless it’s the love tales that Ransom Canyon is worried with first and foremost. The whole lot else, from the twister that rips via city to the bitter rivalry between Staten and his former brother-in-law Davis (Eoin Macken), is simply a lot fodder for make-outs or break-ups.

Provided that the collection is customized from Jodi Thomas’ Texas-set romance novels, the emphasis on affairs of the center is to be anticipated. However the easy, flat execution makes it really feel just like the output of a market analysis assembly about Yellowstone and Virgin River‘s robust viewership numbers, greater than a ardour challenge for anybody concerned.

It’s wholly unobjectionable, which isn’t the identical factor as saying it’s actively pleasurable. The plot is sophisticated in that the characters make a behavior of abrupt adjustments of coronary heart and earnest speeches explaining mentioned adjustments, however easy in that we’re by no means left in any doubt as to what’s finally supposed to occur. The agricultural Texas landscapes aren’t fairly stunning in a manner that evokes grandeur or a particular standpoint, however they’re benignly fairly in the way in which {that a} inventory picture or a catalog picture may be fairly.

The characters fall neatly into shopworn archetypes — robust silent cowboy, too-slick businessman, dangerous boy with a coronary heart of gold, and so on. — and are straightforward to root for in the sense that none of them are fascinating sufficient to be value rooting in opposition to. The casting is serviceable in this regard. Duhamel is completely agreeable in a task that makes succesful use of his smoky voice and “much less idiosyncratic Timothy Olyphant” appears. Kelly brings a nice heat to Quinn, although the truth that she’s principally referred to as upon right here to forged indulgent appears towards Staten appears an underuse of the depth she confirmed as Texan golden woman Lyla Garrity on Friday Evening Lights.

Neither of them, nor actually anybody else in the forged for that matter, manages to raise these characters to the purpose of an precise character. However that appears much less a fault of their performances than it does of writing that enables these characters no nuance to play with, and no house to develop. For all of the down-home grumbling about legacy and loyalty, the individuals of Ransom Canyon are a hopelessly fickle bunch, vulnerable to tearfully confessing their emotions in one episode, solely to coldly reject one another the following, solely to return to tearfully confessing their emotions once more the one after that.

Whereas such countless back-and-forth makes for unsatisfying character growth, it does make for plotlines that go down virtually too straightforward — that don’t ask you to dial into the subtleties of an individual’s feelings or monitor their evolution and even bear in mind what occurred an episode or two earlier.

Relying on how you intend to look at it, this may be a bug or a function. In the event you’re hoping to get totally swept up in a narrative, Ransom Canyon gained’t be it; it’s too bland to command your discover for quite a lot of minutes at a time. However should you’re in search of some background noise to throw on when you drift off on the sofa? Effectively, then, Staten Kirkland simply may be your man.