lewianbra

I watched this mainly because Lisa Kudrow is in it, and she doesn't disappoint. She delivers a very idiosyncratic yet credible and emotional interpretation of the grieving mother with some resistance against selling the house they have just put on the market for all the memories. But then her son died there (how exactly he died and who finds out how are the major storyline), and maybe selling and moving out is the best she could do? Outstanding performance! I feel somewhat ambiguous about Ray Romano as her husband. His acting is much plainer despite going through a lot of stuff, but toward the end I made my peace with his interpretation of the role. At least he gives Lisa's character good reason to get cross with him for not showing emotions. Also the script makes it harder for him (and in fact for all the others) to shine than Lisa's. Linda Cardellini was fun to watch, and I also liked Teyonah Parris despite her role having some rather annoying aspects. The rest of the cast is fine but to some extent inhibited by what they were given here.

This is a mix of dark comedy, murder mystery, trying not always convincingly to mix in some psychological depth. It's neither laugh out loud nor properly focused on what contributes to solving (or intensifying) the mystery, but overall it works OK as entertainment. It has both original ideas and relies on some cliches. Well, you have already realised that this is an ambivalent review.

I had read some reviews in advance telling me that I need to be patient with the first episodes as many apparently unconnected storylines are somewhat superficially introduced, but later the patience will pay off. Well, I actually even thought well into episode 6 that the plot is a holy mess with many unnecessary distractions, and that even if they can put together an OK ending, it may not necessarily save the show. But then how things came together in the end was surprisingly satisfying, so at the end there was some reward for the patience.

That said, the end and already some earlier parts need you to tolerate some inconsistencies and plotholes. But still, the end was nicely enough conceived and done that I forgive some of the earlier mess. Maybe not all of it.

I don't think this will have a second series because although not 100% everything was mopped up, there is hardly anything in the plot left that could carry the show over into another series. Stranger things have happened, but the end here seems to be conceived as a proper end.

I'm not usually the kind of guy who likes the stuff that everyone seem to like, and Friends didn't click with me when I saw a couple of random episodes at the time. It seemed too nice for me, too keen on pleasing everyone. What got me into it were some best of clips on youtube, Phoebe in particular. OK, I'm not too keen on most mainstream shows but I love having a good laugh, and I adored Seinfeld, so it made some sense checking this one out.

I made it through all episodes to the end, and that wouldn't have happened had I not genuinely liked it. What I love about it is the chemistry between the whole group of actors. They have a good mix of being able to relate to each other but also being sufficiently different so that different people can find somebody to relate to, and there is good potential for dynamics. The actors are well chosen. Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer are the standouts for me, but the others mostly make the best of their parts, too; I also love Matt Perry's sarcastic delivery. And then it's mostly very well written with hilarious one-liners and fun ideas all over the place, so it delivers the laughs.

Furthermore it's not all superficial; watching some of the characters and relationships develop over time holds some attraction beyond just the fun. The Ross and Rachel story started off so nicely in the first and second season that they won me over for the whole show, despite that fact that the show tried to torpedo our wish for them to finally get together again by a number of quite annoying things that they'd do to each other in the meantime.

That said, I have a good number of issues with the show. Occasionally the writers wouldn't care about consistency and change some backstories. Some developments particularly after the fifth series are seriously annoying. Joey develops from a straight and simple streetwise character to one that qualifies as clinically retarded. Most characters become more and more selfish (sometimes you wonder how they could put up with each other) and many of the later ideas feel forced and don't have the freshness of the first few series. The authors would often sacrifice the integrity and likeability of the characters for comic effect, and at some point it grates. Ross is actually the major example for this (with Rachel not much behind). I don't mind that despite being an academic he can do stupid things. This is good fun at times. But he shows a really possessive and toxic side at times that stops being funny quite early. Some later interactions between bossy Monica and weak Chandler don't feel so good either, and Phoebe seems to become more and more superficial.

The series has been criticised for the absence of non-white lead actors. This doesn't bother me that much, but there is a general lack of consciousness for relevant societal and political issues. Apparently portraying a lesbian wedding was kind of progressive at the time, but the handling of male and female stereotypes and how uncomfortable most characters are handling deviations is unsettling. Some remarks would qualify as outright homophobia these days.

I also feel bad about the fact that apparently Phoebe is the only character that has some values and opinions about society, but this only portrays her as lovable oddball not to be taken seriously. As things progress, she is shown in several ways as a hypocrite, so having some standards is something only worth to be mocked. I don't actually object to the mocking, which is funny at times; but showing values and engagement as butt of jokes only grates me.

So the show has given me something to laugh and to like, it certainly transmits some warmth, but I can't give it more than 7/10, and I could have done well without some of its aspects.

This film has many good ingredients: It takes is time to explore relations between people, also relations between different cultures with some human connection and some cultural misunderstandings and tensions, there's some nice and atmospheric photography of the landscape, there is mystery crime, there is an original and good idea with a bright 18 years-old making his first steps in journalism, commenting on the goings on from the sideline, with some personal involvement and trouble to find "the right distance" to what he is writing on. The soundtrack by Tin Hat is nice and unconventional.

Unfortunately the film left me disappointed because the logic of what happened was very superficial (if it had any logic at all, as some weird stuff remained unexplained), and ultimately not credible. There was nothing deeper to be discovered that would connect the events better than what could be seen easily on the surface. There were surprise twists (not everything could be seen from the very beginning), but they came out of nowhere or maybe just because the director felt that a twist is needed, but not because they made sense given the preceding story and scenario.

I'm not recommending against watching this; you may check for yourself whether I missed anything, but still, I felt let down by this.