The Road Trick

Decent magician, and from what i know, generally speaking, a good person who genuinely does his part to bring a little happiness into others' lives... but after a few episodes of THIS series it becomes clear that it really has not as much to do with reaching out to other cultures as it does with seeing what he can get for free or who he can hook up with by doing magic tricks...

In a show about magic, I was expecting something more along the lines of David Blaine performing a lot of magic. The tricks are few and far between, taking a backseat to the awkward social interactions that the star has with the locals. Adam is very charming in a sort of bumbling way but he is not a great magician. His sleight of hand was painful to watch and oftentimes the secrets themselves were blatantly obvious, even when performing tricks only for the camera that could perfected with better angles or another take. He should stick to Broadway shows where the size and scope and effects distract from his lack of talent.

I wanted to like this show. It's obviously cheesy as can be right from the beginning, but I thought it might be cheesy in an endearing way. Adam has moments of charm but they're few and far between. The rest of the time is unbearably awkward. Like a reality version of Curb Your Enthusiasm, but without the self-awareness. He's pushy, entitled, and totally oblivious to social cues. He creeps on attractive young women and geeks out about talking to them like he's 12 years old.

Too painful to even finish the 10 episodes.

I'd give this a higher rating, but I can't stand the fact that he doesn't enjoy food at all. He ate at McDonald's and ordered a steak well-done! The waiter rightfully served him medium rare and said he wouldn't serve well-done.lol

For a guy who wants to experience cultures, he doesn't put much effort in actually experiencing their food. It's very painful to watch... specially from a guy like me who watches Bizarre Foods and all the Bourdain shows!

With that said, I love the show very much. I enjoy the simple tricks he does. People are saying his tricks are weak, etc... but the show is about more than that. He's also a lot more likable that David Blaine! His full stage shows are actually genius.

Overall, it's an entertaining show. Just cover your eyes and ears when he resists the local cuisine!

Adam Trent is undoubtedly a very talented magician, and the concept of him travelling around Europe using his tricks to befriend locals into sharing some of their culture is a sound one.

Unfortunately, his ignorant and entitled manner very quickly started to grate. He personified much of what pisses people off about Americans overseas, with his repeated acts of disrespect and general assumption that he could do whatever he wanted, regardless of local custom or regulations (or even basic good manners).

He also quickly became uncomfortably creepy around the young females he encountered, and on one occasion early in the series he even asked the cameras to stay behind as he walked off into the distance with a pretty young blonde, with the obvious intention of bedding her.

I didn't watch much further than that, so I can't say whether the series improved, or if he managed to learn anything valuable on his travels. But from his extremely high levels of self-confidence and undisguised conviction that he was fully entitled to get whatever he wanted (so long as he badgered and pestered people enough to get it) I would be very surprised if he gained anything from his journey except a further belief in his own greatness.

Handsome, charming, talented... and utterly devoid of humility, respect, or depth.