Starring
Ewan McGregor, Krysta Rodriguez, Rebecca Dayan, David Pittu, Gian Franco Rodriguez, Bill Pullman, Sullivan Jones, Kelly Bishop, Rory Culkin
Available
Format
Surprisingly,
Halston features none of the Murphy repertory players, but some of his other hallmarks are very much in place in this biographical drama: outsiders, power dynamics, queer leads, musical numbers. Though
Halston is undeniably a group effort, built around Ewan McGregor’s oft-canny performance, it’s still destined to be dubbed a “Ryan Murphy show,” with all the baggage that comes with that term. And yet, the docudrama somehow manages to skimp on that “Murphy-ness”—it’s nowhere near as campy or heightened or as absurd as it ought to be, even if those qualities usually set Murphy’s shows up to go off the rails. When Bianca Jagger appears astride a horse in the middle of the dance floor, it’s in more of an obligatory “1970s’ greatest hits” compilation manner than a rococo moment. The story’s overindulgences are limited to coke-snorting scenes and utterances of “Halston,” which number in the hundreds. The sex scenes are often a whirl of clothes, which is maybe fitting. As exquisite as the limited series’ production and costume designs are, there’s more wonder and humor in one of the designer’s old perfume commercials.