Too A lot
Netflix, July 10, 2025
Jul 14, 2025
Images by Netflix
Jessica day goals of a complicated accented Prince Charming sweeping her off her ft, then whisking her off to Buckingham Palace. However when the New York promoting producer lastly stops bingeing British interval dramas, will get reassigned to London, and sees Buckingham for herself, the glamor of her fantasies provides method to rom-com hijinks which are positive to attraction audiences watching this endearingly dysfunctional protagonist on the brand new Netflix sequence Too A lot (all the ten episode first season dropped on July 10).
Megan Stalter stars as Jessica, and she or he’s an absolute enjoyment of what deserves to be the breakout main position of the 12 months. She’s greatest recognized for taking part in a blissfully, however hilariously oblivious expertise agent on HBO’s beloved sitcom Hacks. On Too A lot Stalter lastly will get to transcend comedian reduction. Followers of her activate Hacks shouldn’t fret— Stalter nonetheless knocks hilarious one liners out of the park inside the premiere’s first jiffy, telling an Uber driver “Don’t await me, don’t fear. I’ve solely had one alcohol” after an evening out that ends in a darkly humorous reunion along with her ex and his new beau. However when the plot fortunately picks up past her compellingly complicated however cringey (truly, poisonous) dynamic along with her ex, and Jessica is reassigned to London, the viewers can higher get pleasure from not solely Jessica’s subverted expectations in regards to the picture of England. Higher nonetheless: Stalter’s bittersweet efficiency, orchestrated by showrunner and co-creator extraordinaire Lena Dunham (of HBO’s Ladies fame).
Jessica anticipated to stay in luxurious at Tower Hamlet Property, the place her promoting agency rented a room out for her. The corporate did so after relocating her to steer a UK Christmas advert marketing campaign, as a result of she was floundering in New York, obsessing over the girl her ex dumped her for. However when Jessica arrives, Tower Hamlet Property is a falsely marketed housing mission the place she will hear neighbors screaming “cunt!” at one another via the paper skinny partitions (a far cry from the jolly good slang she hoped for after watching a lot British telly).
Her first tryst with a British gent additionally didn’t go as anticipated. She spots him at a pub on her first night time in London: singing dreamily, sporting a shirt even frillier than the intentionally retro threads Jessica comically favors, and later arguing along with his girlfriend earlier than she storms off. The charismatic, glam rock indebted open mic-er named Felix is performed by Will Sharp, fortunately boasting sufficient confidence to place the “odd” in “Area Oddity,” particularly after the whiny one-note materials he muddled via on the nonetheless broadly watched second season of The White Lotus. After his gig (given gravitas by Dunham’s husband and Too A lot co-creator Luis Felber, a musician), Felix reaches excessive of the unisex bathroom stall and asks Jess if she has any bathroom paper (utilizing extra endearing British slang), his painted fingernails gleaming below the bare bulbs. A mess of jokes are exchanged between the pair, a la Stalter’s zany work on Hacks, which is bound to thrill her followers and informal viewers.
What’s extra, when Jess makes an ungainly advance on Felix and he gently declines, extra bittersweet and relatable dialogue ensues, particularly when Jess tries to brush all of it off as a joke and even goes so far as to say “I used to be simply kidding.” One other encounter between them is rather more romantic, lingering on a number of the ardour between them in a plainly shot method that additionally reveals some tender awkwardness within the pillow discuss of an early, uncertain romance.
The latter is rather more paying homage to Dunham’s artsier work on Ladies than a lot of the broader, fixed jokes seemingly thrown on the Too A lot writers’ room wall to see what sticks. That distinction between Dunham’s auteurism and the upbeat tone akin to Stalter’s work on Hacks is a testomony to the co-showrunner’s vary on Too A lot, her dedication to succeed in a wider viewers, and commendable potential to click on along with her new muse in Stalter. However these two parts aren’t fairly seamless, although they’re under no circumstances jarring.
Sure, Dunham’s followers are positive to choose the extra contemplative, free type feeling scenes between hunky (albeit dorky) Sharp and a feminine lead who’s refreshingly not made as much as appear to be a Barbie doll or to satisfy the unrealistically sexist requirements so typically imposed on fluffier rom-coms (and naturally Hollywood at massive). However it’s nonetheless fascinating to see Dunham meet our second’s “gourmand TV cheeseburger” cravings fairly than the upscale fare (and extra versatile budgets) of the 2010s that Dunham got here up in. Her chemistry with Stalter, an equally vibrant expertise, is all of the extra thrilling. And that may be seen each behind the digicam in her writing and path, and likewise onscreen as Stalter and Dunham share transferring and hilarious transient early scenes as sisters. What’s extra: the legendary Rhea Perlman performs their judgmental however loving grandmother, Rita Wilson co-stars as her overprotective mom, Richard E. Grant performs Jess’ boss, and Jessica Alba even makes an sudden and surprisingly relatable cameo.
All that and extra makes Too A lot really feel rife with potential, though it has but to cohere into an incredible sitcom consistent with the heights that these particular person abilities have already achieved elsewhere.
Writer score: 7/10
