Kim Kardashian’s actress era is off to a rough start.
Ryan Murphy’s new drama “All’s Fair,” which puts the reality star front and center, is getting blasted by critics, with many specifically calling out Kardashian’s performance as fictional divorce lawyer Allura Grant.
The show follows a group of high-powered female attorneys as they help their clients get back at cruel rich men. On Tuesday, the show had a 0% critics score on the movie-focused website Rotten Tomatoes. By Wednesday, that had increased to just 6%.
“... Kardashian’s performance, stiff and affectless without a single authentic note, is exactly what the writing, also stiff and affectless without a single authentic note, merits,” The Hollywood Reporter’s TV critic wrote. “Her very presence, which succeeds at generating buzz and not much else, feels fitting for a show that seems to want not to be watched so much as mined for viral bits and pieces."
The legal drama was described as a “crime against television” by The Telegraph’s TV critic.
The idea to cast Kardashian came after Disney’s co-chair of entertainment, Dana Walden, set up a dinner with Murphy and Kris Jenner, matriarch of the Kardashian-Jenner family.
“I went to Kris’ house and I did something I’ve never done in my career, which was I brought a reality pitch and it wasn’t good,” Murphy said during the show’s lavish Los Angeles premiere at the DGA Theater Complex, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “I started my pitch and I was kind of excited. Anybody in the future who pitches to Kim, you’ve lost Kim when she starts texting on her phone. I finished my pitch and I was sort of nervous and Kris said, ‘That was really good sweetie, but you should write a role for Kim.’”
Murphy also praised Kardashian, who is an executive producer on the series alongside Jenner, describing her as “fantastic.”
Kardashian has been at the center of the show’s promotional materials and had been prominently featured in trailers for the series ahead of its release. The entrepreneur has said her character was inspired by her own divorce attorney Laura Wasser, who also counts Angelina Jolie, Kevin Costner and Ariana Grande as clients.
The role marks the first of several Hollywood projects Kardashian is on deck for. Eva Longoria is set to direct Kardashian in a comedy feature for Netflix titled "The Fifth Wheel," and Kardashian's also reportedly being eyed to play the villain in a "Bratz" movie adaptation. She previously had a smaller role in Murphy's "American Horror Story," playing a publicist employed by Emma Roberts’ character, and voiced characters in two “PAW Patrol” movies.
Like many of Murphy’s other series, “All’s Fair” has an all-star cast made up of Naomi Watts, Niecy Nash-Betts, Sarah Paulson, Teyana Taylor and Glenn Close.
But critics said the Hollywood A-listers weren’t enough to bolster the show’s rating.
“Not even Glenn Close can save this Ryan Murphy disaster from its dismal plots, clueless characters — and the worst kissing scenes ever filmed,” The Guardian wrote in its 0-star review. The publication’s critic described Kardashian’s performance as “expressionless” and “useless,” but added that “no one seems to know what they’re doing.”
Still, some viewers have been enthusiastic about the ensemble and its campiness. The Rotten Tomatoes “Popcornmeter,” which tracks audience reviews, was 62% as of Wednesday.
“All’s Fair on Hulu dares to ask the question ‘Does a show need to be good?’ & the answer is no, it doesn’t,” one X user wrote. “We have legendary actresses here giving the worst performances of their careers, it takes a special kind of talent to pull that kind of inability out of them.”
Another X user described criticism toward the show as “sexist.”
“It’s a show that isn’t afraid to be bad, it reminded me of old ABC dramas,” the user wrote. “It’s a very fun show to watch because it’s over-the-top and bad without apprehension, and that’s fantastic.”
Fans of Kardashian also noted that they enjoyed watching her performance, likening the show to an episode of her family’s reality series.
Several social media users said the bad reviews are what made them all the more interested.
“0% on rotten tomatoes……… oh i need to watch this IMMEDIATELY,” one X user wrote.
“IT’S SO BAD GO WATCH IT RIGHT NOW,” wrote another.
New episodes of the show drop weekly at midnight ET Tuesdays on Hulu, through Dec. 23.
