A sun-kissed Netflix crime caper swaps memes for momentum to become one of the streamer’s biggest hits

Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2023

Ever since the title of the limited series was first announced, a certain set of expectations have arisen regarding Netflix’s crime caper Florida Man, if only for the fact the title immediately conjures up all sorts of wild and crazy memes.

You don’t have to dig too far into the internet archives to find a cavalcade of crazy antics ripped right from the headlines that begin with the words “Florida Man,” but outside of the nomenclature, creator Donald Todd isn’t interested in replicating the insanity that emanates from the Sunshine State.

Instead, the story find’s Edgar Ramirez’s ex-cop returning to his home state to track down the runaway girlfriend of a Philadelphia mobster, but things don’t take but a hot minute to go south. Caught up in a spiraling descent into the criminal underworld that involves long-buried secrets, double-crosses, and shady characters, Florida Man is more of a straightforward exercise in ticking the genre’s boxes than the title may lead you to believe.

That being said, it’s got more than enough in the tank to entice Netflix subscribers to give it a shot, with FlixPatrol revealing Florida Man to have debuted as the eighth most-watched episodic original on the platform’s charts. A Top 10 spot in 33 countries isn’t anywhere near as strong as you’d expect from an in-house crime story, but there’s a distinct possibility it’ll climb higher as the weekend progresses once subscribers carve out enough time to power through its seven episodes in the space of a binge-watch or two.