Renée Zellweger’s ‘The Thing About Pam’ Is a Crime Story Without Pop: TV Review
variety.comDaniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticIt’s hard, at first, to see what drew Renée Zellweger to the lead role of “The Thing About Pam.”Zellweger, in an attempt to resemble the real-life convicted murderer Pam Hupp, forces herself to act through a shroud of body prosthetics.
The show’s writers have stripped away subtext, dimming Zellweger’s sparky comic timing. It’s only in the series’ third episode that a tie to Zellweger’s past work becomes clear: Rising to take the stand as a witness in a murder trial, Pam sees her name in lights.
In the criminal-justice system, she’s found her own kind of stardom.“Chicago” this isn’t — that movie allowed Zellweger to be as shrewd and sharp as her character was callous and oblivious.
But “Pam,” a limited series based on Hupp’s true story, has this much in common with Zellweger’s famous musical role: It attempts to make points about the hungers and the vanities that drive people to kill.
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