‘Amsterdam Empire’ Series Review: Famke Janssen’s Netflix Show Is A Regrettable Misfire

After a long and storied Hollywood career, Famke Janssen is making a comeback to the Netherlands to front-run this 7-episode show as a vengeful soon-to-be-ex-wife of a major cannabis industry boss. But is there something to be enjoyed out of this diva-style turn?

None of the creatives involved with Amsterdam Empire are novices. Indeed, the trio of Nico Moolenaar, Piet Matthys, and Bart Uytdenhouwen have had a successful relationship with Netflix Benelux, through the global broadcast of crime dramas Undercover and Ferry; they even cast Elise Schaap from the former series in a major role as Marjolain, the new romantic partner of the (anti)hero. So, on paper, having this experienced trio team up with Famke Janssen, who has gathered some experience in TV with How To Get Away With Murder and the short-lived Blacklist: Redemption, seems like a match made in TV heaven. That association makes the Amsterdam Empire all the more baffling.

So, what is Amsterdam Empire supposed to be, anyway? Well, the empire above is that of the Jackal, a chain of coffee shops selling legal cannabis strains and a bona fide success for its founder, Jack Van Doorn (Jacob Derwig). Who has also, for two decades, enjoyed a life of a liar and serial cheater to his wife, Betty (Janssen), a former pop star who has left it all to become a high-maintenance real Amsterdam housewife of sorts (the writers barely spare us to addition of a “former reality TV star” trope in). Until one affair too many is discovered, one argument is going too far, and Jack rocks Betty’s world by announcing he wants a divorce.

He already has a plan B: a fling with national TV anchor Marjolain and full control of her empire. But in response, Betty’s wrath will consume it all: his “legal drug lord” facade, his associates, his money and reputation… She is coming to destroy him entirely, and as the series tends to prove, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

The issues with Amsterdam Empire start with its identity: between a messy, soapy power struggle between an egomaniac businessman and a more straightforward narcotics thriller with disgruntled new partners, the series refuses to choose.

As we are introduced to more characters in Jack’s inner circle, including his daughter Katya (Jade Olieberg), our sympathies, or at least our understanding, are supposed to go with his struggle to make a nice arrangement and move on with his life. Alas, Derwig’s performance has no room to find humanity in a deeply flawed, quietly pathetic character.

But as Betty, even though she seems to have fun in the role, Famke Janssen is constantly underserved by writing that turns her into a tired trope of the scorned wife. As the series tries to humanize Jack, Betty’s attempts to humiliate him seem increasingly far-fetched and almost reek of teenage angst. Even worse, though Betty is played appropriately over the top, her schemes seem to target the easiest marks imaginable, and there is something counterintuitive about the fact that they are being played like a fiddle.

For a crime thriller, Amsterdam Empire also seems disinterested in action scenes, consistent world-building of Jack’s operations, or even a more dynamic pace. Apart from a chase scene that seems close to farcical in the first episode, the sometimes elaborate set pieces and sequences are also not served very well by the directors. Instead, the show introduces and drops side plots like it’s nothing, like a concerned wife of one of Jack’s associates undergoing chemotherapy. Despite all the best efforts of the cast, the characters in the show amount to one-note caricatures playing against each other in the least creative way possible.

Watch Amsterdam Empire if you liked

• Family Business
• The Gentlemen

Verdict on the Amsterdam Empire

Despite a game Famke Janssen, one-note characters, unfocused writing, and tired tropes of a dissolving couple in an all-out war, this show crumbles before it even starts.

Amsterdam Empire arrives on Netflix globally on October 30th.