American Gigolo, a present-day reimagining of the iconic film, follows Julian Kaye (Jon Bernthal) after his release from prison as he navigates relationships with his former lover (Gretchen Mol), his troubled mother, and the people who betrayed him. While Julian struggles to reconcile his past with the man he is today, Detective Sunday (Rosie O’Donnell) seeks the truth about the murder that sent Julian to prison all those years ago, unearthing a much larger conspiracy along the way.

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Video Quality

American Gigolo arrives on Blu-Ray courtesy of Paramount Home Entertainment with a great AVC encoded 1080p transfer. This season consists of eight episodes spread across two discs, allowing a decent amount of room for episodes to breathe and avoid compression artifacts and aliasing. The show has a somewhat dour outlook thematically, but the color palette often delivers radiant colors within the locations that are rendered with tremendous nuance and depth. Skin tones appear detailed across the ensemble with elements such as age lines and facial hair standing out.

Black levels are deep and provide a notable amount of detail in shadows. Highlights never clip or veer into blooming in this presentation. Every episode maintains stability which reminds you why physical media is preferred over streaming. The presentation is assuredly stronger than the streaming and broadcast versions of the show thanks to the compression of that source, but this series is no longer available through its network app so that point is moot regardless. This presentation never lets you down if you are looking to own this in the best quality possible. Paramount has delivered a welcome physical media option for a series no longer available to stream with a subscription.

Audio Quality

This Blu-Ray comes with a really great DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that captures the sonic ambitions of the series without issue. Dialogue comes through clearly without being drowned out by the music or any sound effects. The soundtrack keeps the series stocked with memorable tunes that emanate with standout fidelity within the mix. Active moments occasionally sneak through, but the narrative is more interested in the investigative and interpersonal drama. The track taps into some texture in the lower end which is welcome. The track spotlights environmental sounds in a way that feels authentic and immersive. The audio presentation more than does the trick here. There are English SDH subtitles provided.

Special Features

There are no special features provided on this release.

Final Thoughts

American Gigolo is a bit of a strange beast as it attempts to follow up on some of the storylines introduced in the original film while also embarking on uncharted territory. This reimagining does not really do either of these things effectively. There are moments when you do care about the characters after spending more time with them, but largely you do not feel too invested even as the season reaches its close. It is not surprising that the series was not chosen to continue after this uneven debut season. The mystery was never compelling enough and the sexuality was never that sexy. The best part of this attempt was the performances, but this can only take you so far when the material is not there. Paramount Home Entertainment has delivered a Blu-Ray that offers an excellent A/V presentation but no special features. This is mostly worth it only if you are deeply enamored with the ensemble or the original film (and have a morbid curiosity).

American Gigolo: The Complete First Season can be purchased directly through MovieZyng or through various other online retailers.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Paramount Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.