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John Adams

 (Miniseries -- HBO, Sun. March16, 8 P.M.)

By BRIAN LOWRY

Laura Linney plays Abigail Adams to Paul Giamatti's John in the HBO mini based on the Adamses' correspondence.

Filmed in Virginia and Budapest by Playtone. Executive producers, Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman; co-executive producers, Kirk Ellis, Frank Doelger; producers, David Coatsworth, Steven Shareshian; director, Tom Hooper; writer, Ellis; based on the book by David McCullough;
 
John Adams - Paul Giamatti
Abigail Adams - Laura Linney
Thomas Jefferson - Stephen Dillane
Benjamin Franklin - Tom Wilkinson
George Washington - David Morse
Alexander Hamilton - Rufus Sewell
Samuel Adams - Danny Huston
Edmund Charles Genet - Cyril Descours
William Maclay - Alan Cox
 

Distilling David McCullough's 700-page "John Adams" biography into a seven-part, $100-million miniseries featuring multiple Oscar nominees is just the sort of audacious enterprise HBO needs -- a near-sure-fire way to get back some of that missing mojo, at least on the awards circuit. That said, this exceedingly handsome Tom Hanks-backed production takes getting used to -- at times proving so reverential toward the source and awash in self-importance as to risk blunting its drama. Nevertheless, this nine-hour project is grand in its scope and intellectually uncompromising, representing a you-won't-see-this-anywhere-else endeavor that pay TV increasingly requires, warts and all.

Television has only sparingly explored this period (one has to hark back more than 20 years to Barry Bostwick as "George Washington"), which by itself makes "Adams" something of an event.

By drawing on exhaustive letters written by the second U.S. president and his wife Abigail, McCullough enlivened the yellowed pages of history with a dense and richly detailed portrait. Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney play those central roles, a couple whose fierce devotion to each other establishes this as an epic romance as well as a true professional partnership.

Director Tom Hooper (HBO's "Elizabeth I") and writer Kirk Ellis face the customary challenges of what to throw away and what to keep while sifting through a massive tome. They begin with Adams' entry into the political world as he takes the principled stand of defending British soldiers accused in the so-called Boston Massacre, in which four colonists were killed -- the courtroom setting providing a shrewd way to introduce Adams as a man of strong convictions but also self-doubts, frequently turning to his wife for succor and reassurance.

The adaptation is meticulous almost to a fault, including a fidelity to language and accents (a hybrid between British and American) that initially appears to handcuff some of the cast --beginning, most glaringly, with Giamatti, fresh off his turn as a jollier icon in "Fred Claus." Even beneath the wig and period clothes, his beady eyes and halting mutterings uncomfortably bring to mind less a Founding Father than Harvey Pekar, the self-loathing cartoonist he played in "American Splendor." If not a fatal flaw, it is surely a distracting one.

These concerns are mitigated as the story proceeds, highlighted by the second installment (HBO will air both the first night) -- a fascinating look at the politics and personalities of the Continental Congress, jockeying over whether to declare independence from England and initiate certain war. In short order, a who's who of history arrives -- the wily Ben Franklin (Tom Wilkinson), cautious Thomas Jefferson (Stephen Dillane) and towering George Washington (David Morse, having apparently borrowed Nicole Kidman's prosthetic nose from "The Hours").

Part three takes Adams to France via a harrowing sea voyage to plead for assistance in the fight against the British, clashing with Franklin -- who indulges freely in French debauchery -- while forming a bond with Jefferson, his eventual political rival. The fourth chapter marks Adams' time as the British ambassador, leading to Washington's inauguration and Adams' somewhat reluctant selection as vice president.

Technically, the term "sumptuous" almost doesn't do justice to the production, including loving cinematography by Tak Fujimoto capturing the pre-electric environs and majestic recreations (through visual effects and massive sets) of such historical venues as the French palace at Versailles in all its splendid glory. Shot in the Colonial Williamsburg Historic Area and Hungary for the European locations, the project features 125 speaking roles and revels in small details, including the barbarism of 18th century vaccinations and the spectacle of a Boston crowd brutally tarring and feathering an English bureaucrat.

Hooper and Ellis are equally faithful in replicating the cloistered prose and elevated dialogue of the day, as evidenced when Abigail chides her husband for having "overburdened your argument with ostentatious erudition."

For all that, "John Adams" sparks to life only sporadically -- indicative of a project that expects to be admired in the way one would a museum piece, resisting the customary demands of a TV audience. In that respect, the tone mirrors the philosophy of its protagonist, who complains that most men are "weak and cruel and vicious" and therefore need a strong guiding hand.

"John Adams" has the fortitude to signal from the get-go that it, too, has no intention of meeting the rabble halfway but rather must be accepted on its terms, bowing to the project's greatness. There's something refreshing about that ambitious approach in these pandering times, but such is not generally a modern-day formula for success -- either in TV or, for that matter, politics.

Camera, Tak Fujimoto; production designer, Gemma Jackson; editor, Melanie Oliver; music, Rob Lane, Joseph Vitarelli; casting, Kathleen Chopin, Nina Gold. RUNNING TIME: 165 MIN.
 

With: Sean McKenzie.