Five years ago in May 2020, a streaming service called HBO Max launched the big name. Its first original series for adults is Love lifeAnna Kendrick plays a journey in his twenties, whose standard love trap should lead her to “a,” or at least an adult relationship. The review you are going to read was originally published on May 27, 2020, but we have reposted the review today to commemorate the arrival of this underrated show to Netflix.
Love life: Streaming or skipping?
Opening shot: Just as we see shots of various couples in close situations, we hear the narrator (Lesley Manville) say, “Our love life is easily reduced to data.” She goes on to explain that when ordinary people satisfy their lifelong love, they will be in 7 relationships, which is a combination of long-term, short-term and one-night stalls.
Key points: “However, behind these numbers is a bigger story,” the narrator said. Her parents divorced when they were four years old, and she traveled back and forth between their respective houses so long that she felt she was always in a hotel and eager to connect with people. She moved to New York to attend college and had a fun but “somewhat empty” flight for a while, but now she's looking for more, “the clothes you're wearing are because you're who you are.”
We picked her story when we first started college in 2012, living in an unrealistic West Village loft with roommates Sara Yang (Zoë Chao) and Mallory Moore (Sasha Compère), and Sara's boyfriend Jim (Peter Vack) keeps appearing. Sara takes her to a karaoke party held by Jim’s colleagues, where she meets Augie Jeong (Jin Ha), a handsome hipster journalist wearing Knicks (Knicks Beanie). They immediately knocked it down and went to bed together the first night. But she felt her connection with Augie could lead to something that she told her boss Bradley (Scoot McNairy) and fiancée Kate (Maureen Sebastian) that he would be the adder at their wedding.
However, it took him several days to contact her and she tortured herself. Sara knew that Darby shouldn't have written the first text, and Mallory thought the rules were old-fashioned. But when Augie did get back to her, their relationship started to get started so much that they were already using the bathroom between each other weeks later. She even started watching the Knicks with him as linsanity was in full swing. It felt like they started the real relationship she had been longing for.
But, just as everything gets better and better, Augie drops the bomb: Politico asks him to join the presidential campaign and eventually settles in Washington to make up for Obama, who is reluctant to do long distances if he is elected. His last night in New York was the wedding, and as he tried to stay in this moment, Darby fought in futile efforts to make their separation easier to deal with. But they eventually came back together, knowing it was the best for adults, and they felt sad when Augie took the bus to start his new mission.
Photo: HBO Max
Our opinion: Love life Designed as an anthology that traces the relationships of different themes in each season. Created by Sam Boyd (Paul Feig, Bridget Bedard, Jesse Henderson and Kendrick are another executive producer), it's a weird choice, a big choice like important services like HBO Max. Other recent streaming launches used Splashier's original show to launch its service – Apple used Morning performanceDisney has used it MandalorianQuibi used…Okay, let's skip Quibi. but Love life is a watchable, even predictable romantic comedy that distinguishes itself by its performance and the fact that love is treated realistically than we see in similar series. But splash, not.
Of course, this is the best option we've seen with Kendrick for quite some time up in the air 11 years ago. All these years pitch perfect and Troll The franchise made us forget that she had considerable acting skills and was able to spread subtle emotions through her facial expressions (we realized it was Julia Louis-Dreyfus-style) and vocal curves.
She plays Darby because he may think he is not worthy of love, but she is not sad either. Even if she does something immature and awkward, like in episode 2, where she dates a new farewell Bradley and gets drunk when her father wakes up, she does it in a realistic immature way. In many ways, Darby is not ready for adulthood, as most millennials realize it. Her relationship, whether it is with her boss, or what she calls “Danny two phones,” and even the escape of her mother, Hope Davis, succeeds in the normal way and fails in the normal way. Darby’s “correct correct” journey felt like a lot of people were going on in our 20s, which was refreshing.
Despite maintaining a stable relationship with Jim, we can also see Sarah’s struggle in adulthood. He wanted to take it to the next level, but she didn't, because she wasn't ready to grow up. But when her friends start to master adults and she can’t, her conflict is stark and Chao does a great job in this conflict.
So, as we said, the show is well worth watching. Actually, my wife and I met the first 8 episodes on the holiday weekend. But despite Kendrick's presence, this isn't any event series, and we're not sure why this cute but light show is a show of the adult script original slate that launched HBO Max.
Sex and skin: We see Augie's nakedness, but Darby is covered up. There was some slight nudity throughout the series, and we saw the sexual action shot creatively, but with relatively little skin.
Separate lens: When Darby met Augie, we saw an older version of her, obviously pregnant as Darby walked down the street. “Darby doesn't know yet, but her people are there. Maybe she's already met them. Maybe she doesn't. But they're still alive in the city and are looking for her, too.” “It's going to happen to her. It's just that she thinks it will.”
Sleeper Star: Chao is the choice here for the reasons mentioned above, and also because she is not only “best friend” but also has her own performance. Maybe Season 2 (if any) will be about Sarah.
Most pilot lines: Although we like Lesley Manville, the narrator’s use is too harsh, especially in the early days. I would rather see what happened than explain it to me.
Our phone number: Streaming. Love life Very good performance, great performance, starting with Kendrick's Emmy turn. But that certainly won't shock you, it's like a gentle way HBO Max launches.
Joel Keller has written about food, entertainment, parenting and technology, but he is not kidding: he is a TV fan. His works appear in The New York Times, Slate, Salon, vanityfair.com, Playboy.com, fast Company.com, Rollingstone.com, Billboard and elsewhere.
stream Love life On HBO Max