Unflinching honesty is expected from Amy Schumer, no matter the format.
Since the success of her Comedy Central sketch series Inside Amy Schumer, the comedian has stayed away from television aside from standup specials and the eye-opening three-part docuseries Expecting Amy. Now Schumer returns to TV with passion project Life & Beth, which takes the familiar semi-autobiographical route favored by Pamela Adlon, Mae Martin, and a forthcoming Pete Davidson venture. Considering how much Schumer has mined her experiences—stand-up specials, a memoir, an intimate documentary about giving birth—it might seem like there is nothing new left to say, but the Hulu dramedy (that she headlines, directs, and co-writes) proves otherwise.
Beth is Schumer’s middle name, but this title wordplay points to the lead character’s ennui and the broader themes addressed across 10 episodes. Beth is emotionally spinning wheels both at work and home with her boyfriend of six years. Regular Schumer collaborator Kevin Kane (he is an executive producer and also directs Episode 5) plays bro-y douchebag Matt, who is blissfully unaware of Beth’s perpetual unhappiness until she spells it out to him. “I just haven’t been able to feel anything for a long time,” she explains later about this numbness.
His idea of romantic gestures include screaming at the top of his lungs while riding an “engagement horse” and organizing a badly timed flash mob, which are as wonderfully unhinged as they sound. Whereas Beth can’t muster up any emotions, Matt feels everything—at an incredibly loud volume made more deafening when amplified by his lack of any self-awareness. Working and living together gives them no space, but even their co-workers think they are the picture of perfection. Her refrain of ”I’m really happy” has never sounded more hollow no matter how many times she repeats it.
The cracks in the rom-com facade are evident from Beth’s opening wine sales pitch to prospective clients, played with note-perfect self-indulgence by John Early and Kate Berlant (who I would more than happily listen to drone on for hours about their “fascinating story. It’s actually insane if you want to hear it”). She also has zero desire to participate in the office ritual of ringing a tiny bell (think the opposite of Selling Sunset’s clanger) to celebrate a sale. To make work even more of a living hell, karaoke is another mandated activity enforced by boss Murray (the excellent Murray Hill is having a moment; for the love of God please watch HBO’s Somebody Somewhere). It takes a major life event to pull her out of this routine existence.
The bright lights of Manhattan are replaced by her hometown on Long Island, and Beth is forced to confront both her current inertia and long-buried memories. Hill’s role isn’t the only factor that ties Life & Beth to the aforementioned brilliant Somebody Somewhere—and neither is the fact that Bridget Everett is IRL besties with Schumer. Similar to how Somebody Somewhere is a version of Everett’s life if she hadn’t moved to New York, this is Schumer’s life without stand-up. Unaddressed family trauma is pivotal to both narratives, which see both women confronting the past to move forward. The HBO series is perhaps more focused in this exploration, but it makes a rather solid double-bill tying back to Everett’s frequent appearances on Inside Amy Schumer (including the fabulous “Titty Song”).
Complicated dynamics are explored in the present day, but are more pronounced in the recurring flashbacks to teen Beth (Violet Young). Schumer has drawn on her relationship with her father—including the impact of his MS diagnosis when she was 9—in movies like Trainwreck, and the financial struggles the Schumers incurred when he lost his business is addressed here (Michael Rapaport plays Beth’s father Leonard).
The thorny relationship with her mother shifts into focus with Laura Benanti as matriarch Jane. Initially, this casting choice caused me to press pause and Google the age gap between the actresses—it is two years for anyone wondering—and this distracts from this initial combative scene. However, it is more than justified in the scenes between teen Beth and her mom, and there is an argument to be made that the young Beth depiction could standalone without the adult arc.
Early adolescence is on-trend with Pen15 leaning into the stomach-churning awkwardness of being 13, Big Mouth’s frank discussion of puberty, and even Pixar exploring this avenue with the recent Turning Red. But the power of Life & Beth exists in the juxtaposition of these two defining ages. Young Beth isn’t boxed in yet, despite battling traumatic and formative personal demons—her obsessive-compulsive hair pulling is another candid, devastating arc. And as the older version barrels toward 40 it is clear that something has to change.
It is this tension that leads to a major life decision, a romantic shift, and a meet-cute on a local vineyard, which seems to be informed by Schumer’s marriage to chef Chris Fischer.
Michael Cera, sporting a patchy beard, is the seemingly awkward John who struggles to read social cues and cannot lie. You don’t need to know Schumer’s entire backstory, but watching Expecting Amy alongside Life & Beth added to the overall experience—particularly when it comes to the romance and what appears to be John’s undiagnosed autism spectrum disorder. John isn’t being quirky with his living habits or unfiltered comments, and the latter is in contrast to Beth’s inability to say what she wants. Sure, he doesn’t own a TV or get that Beth’s bad British accent is a Love Island reference, but he is open to her pop-culture suggestions.
One episode sees the pair take magic mushrooms along with her sister Ann (Susannah Flood), and it can’t help but feel pedestrian—and even clichéd—in comparison to Broad City’s animated psychedelic trip, Nine Perfect Strangers’ psilocybin-laced smoothies under the guise of wellness, and the horror of consuming ‘shrooms in Yellowjackets and Midsommar.
But for all the sweetness and warmth of this particular early romance, there are also awkward sexual encounters and a late-night trip to the pharmacy that could be an anecdote in one of Schumer’s stand-up sets.
This one-night stand tips from awkward and unsatisfying into nightmarish when the guy insists on accompanying Beth to the drug store to pick up Plan B after he discovers the condom broke. Other than the recent Hulu movie Plan B—which showed how difficult it can be to acquire emergency contraception—and Aidy Bryant’s Shrill, it is still a fairly uncommon occurrence in pop culture. This is more than a decade ago, but I still remember being super-confused by the broken condom plot in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 because the morning-after-pill seemingly didn’t exist as an option. At a time when reproductive rights are under attack, it is important to see how vital bodily autonomy and access to contraception are.
Schumer leans into the absurdity of this guy’s concerns that she take the pill in front of him, and the sarcasm-laced response is the comedian at her most pointed. It is this frankness the comic is known for, and these moments of cringe-inducing levity ensure that even when Life & Beth is at its darkest, it pulls back.
In terms of the kind of work Schumer has produced in recent years, it does seem like the more she is critiqued the more she bares her soul. This was the case with Expecting Amy. Life & Beth is another piece of Schumer's puzzle. Like many, Inside Amy Schumer was my introduction to the comedian and in recent years I haven’t sought out her work as much as I previously had. However, this ambitious series is a reminder of why I was so enamored in the first place.
Life & Beth isn’t as funny as previous Schumer projects (nor is it trying to be), but I found the adolescent flashbacks particularly enriching to this narrative. Beth is playing the protective big sister, while also navigating the tricky puberty waters that include unsupervised boy-girl parties, the unbearable embarrassment of revealing yourself (both literally and figuratively), and the heartache that comes from rifts with BFFs.
Sometimes these flickers of the past are mere fragments, whereas other episodes spend almost as much time in the ’90s as the present day. With each additional flashback, it is apparent that present-day Beth has a hard time feeling anything because she has spent so long pretending she is fine.
Beth isn’t as outspoken in her feminism as the woman playing her, but anger bubbles beneath the surface. Schumer has spoken openly about the pushback she has faced in comedic circles because of how outspoken she has been since the #MeToo movement began, and her output is always viewed through a prism of her entire body of work—and the backlash she experienced for myriad reasons.
Although, for all the people in the comedy world who bristle against Schumer, the tight-knit group of repeat collaborators who made this show further adds to the intimacy. The guest stars are impressive, which includes David Byrne, Jonathan Groff, and the aforementioned Laura Benanti.
Diving deep into her personal story makes it harder to separate fact from fiction, which in some ways feels like the point of Life & Beth.
