Lena Dunham’s Netflix Romantic Dramedy

Within the closing minutes of the second episode, Jess (Megan Stalter), the brash American protagonist of Netflix’s Too A lot, lies down with the combination CD her new British beau, Felix (Will Sharpe), has made for her. After positioning the headphones over her ears, he leans again as properly, content material to simply curl up on the mattress beside her as she listens. No extra phrases are exchanged, and no bodily fluids both. However because the digital camera lingers on their light expressions, we really feel for ourselves the specialness of their bond, the profound consolation and pleasure they soak up one another’s presence.

It’s a beautiful second of intimacy, all of the extra disarming for being so unassuming. It additionally, sadly, seems to be one thing of a rarity within the 10-episode sequence. Impressed by the real-life courtship between its married creators, Lena Dunham and Luis Felber, Too A lot is nothing if not candid, analyzing its leads’ crimson flags with the clear-eyed empathy of a seasoned therapist. However it struggles to lose itself in its feelings, yielding a romance that’s candy sufficient to love however too cool to fall head over heels for.

Too A lot

The Backside Line

Extra considerate than passionate.

Airdate: Thursday, July 10 (Netflix)
Solid: Megan Stalter, Will Sharpe, Michael Zegen, Emily Ratajkowski, Lena Dunham, Rhea Perlman, Andrew Rannells, Rita Wilson, Richard E. Grant
Creators: Lena Dunham, Luis Felber

The gap doesn’t stem from any specific coyness about its characters. Within the first minutes of the Dunham-directed premiere, Jess breaks into the Brooklyn house that her ex, Zev (Michael Zegen), shares along with his knitting influencer girlfriend (Emily Ratajkowski). By the tip of its roughly half-hour, Jess has made her approach to London in hopes of a contemporary begin — solely to by chance set herself on fireplace her first evening there, leaving her shouting for somebody to name regardless of the U.Okay. equal of 911 may be. Endearingly klutzy heroines could also be a staple of the Richard Curtis rom-coms and Jane Austen diversifications Jess adores, however she’s blown previous “adorkable” into “messy,” even when she strenuously objects to that phrase.

Not that her Mr. Darcy has it far more collectively. Broke indie musician Felix, whom she first sees performing in a dirty pub, comes along with his personal share of addiction- and trauma-related baggage, as turns into more and more, heartbreakingly obvious within the second half of the season. The sequence is unsparing in its cataloguing of the couple’s highs and lows collectively, whether or not it’s a blissed-out evening of screwing till they bodily can’t anymore, or a knock-down-drag-out battle outdoors a manor marriage ceremony for Felix’s most insufferably snotty schoolmates.

Via all of it, Too A lot’s not-so-secret weapon is Dunham and Felber’s dialogue, simply snappy sufficient to sound extra attention-grabbing than actual individuals however not so intelligent it reeks of writerly self-indulgence. They’re in a position to conjure a whole lifetime of hopes and disappointments for Jess with an offhand line like, “I simply want to regulate my expectations. I’m at all times adjusting my expectations,” and to spark a comfy chemistry between Felix and Jess inside minutes of assembly through barely darkish, barely offbeat riffing about homicide and nefarious Wi-Fi alerts.

We grasp immediately the affectionate-but-exasperated dynamic amongst Jess’ household — large sis Nora (Dunham), mother Lois (Rita Wilson) and grandma Dottie (Rhea Perlman), all dwelling collectively in an “intergenerational Gray Gardens hell” on Lengthy Island — once we hear them joking about blowjobs whereas streaming Sense and Sensibility. Or Zev’s specific model of crappy-ex-boyfriend-ness once we hear the way in which he talks to Jess in flashbacks, with insults disguised as compliments about how she’s “lovely” however not in a Hadid manner, or “too good” to benefit from the Miley Cyrus monitor she’s jamming out to.

And but, regardless of its knack for nailing characters with a single sentence and its willingness to embrace all their faults and foibles, Too A lot feels emotionally distant, as if we’re being advised about all of those experiences slightly than invited into them. The disconnect comes via most strongly within the subplots involving supporting characters, just like the flirtations between Jess’ numerous advertising coworkers (which embrace her imperious boss, performed by Richard E. Grant). Whereas we may be aware about main developments — a primary date, a breakup, a reconciliation — practically all of the connective tissue occurs offscreen. These aren’t journeys we’re taking with them, a lot because the form of intermittent updates you would possibly glean from a Instagram posts or a gossipy mutual acquaintance.

However the take away comes via as properly, and extra frustratingly, in Jess and Felix’s relationship. It doesn’t assist that Stalter is uneven in her lead flip. Whereas she might be touching in Jess’ quiet, weak moments — particularly reverse the mellower and extra grounded performances by Sharpe and Zegen — she struggles with the character’s extra extravagant emotional outbursts, as if she hasn’t discovered tips on how to go large with out turning it into the sort of jokey bit that she recurrently steals scenes with on Hacks.

Much more of the blame, nonetheless, lies within the present’s option to focus so closely on unpacking its central couple’s baggage that it loses sight of why any of us are right here within the first place. For a whirlwind romance, Too A lot feels awfully dispassionate. Whereas there’s loads of enthusiastic intercourse and confessional dialog, there are few of the lingering gazes or intense close-ups that may carry us into their footwear, and permit us to get as swept up in Jess and Felix’s bond as they do. And with out that visceral sense of need, Too A lot comes off much less like a romance unfolding for our pleasure, and extra like a {couples} remedy session being held for his or her profit.

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