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There are roughly 47,000—oh, wait, a new Netflix Original just dropped; make that 47,001—TV shows and movies coming out each week. At Obsessed, we consider it our social duty to help you see the best and skip the rest.
We’ve already got a variety of in-depth, exclusive coverage on all of your streaming favorites and new releases, but sometimes what you’re looking for is a simple Do or Don’t. That’s why we created See/Skip, to tell you exactly what our writers think you should See and what you can Skip from the past week’s crowded entertainment landscape.
See: Shotgun Wedding
Shotgun Wedding is a raucous explosion of personality, led by two of our greatest Jennifers—Lopez and Coolidge. How this wasn’t shipped directly to theaters is beyond me. As if there weren’t enough reasons to boycott Amazon already!
Here’s Coleman Spilde’s take:
“Shotgun Wedding stars Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel as Darcy and Tom, a couple who are luxuriating in their Philippines destination wedding. Even amidst Darcy’s estranged parents and Tom’s overcompensating nature, they’ve managed to get every detail of their destination nuptials just right. Until—wouldn’t you know it—a team of pirates crashes their wedding day, holding the guests hostage after marking the lavish venue as a surefire place to score.
It’s the kind of ludicrous plot that could only work with the full commitment of its cast and a tight, punchy script. Luckily, Shotgun Wedding has both, using them to its advantage at almost every turn. Most notable is another phenomenal turn by Jennifer Coolidge, fleeing the White Lotus for another tropical locale to play Duhamel’s gas of a mother. Two knockout action-comedy performances from the Jennifers Lopez and Coolidge elevate Shotgun Wedding from forgettable streaming fare to a lean, highly amusing romp as entertaining as any summer blockbuster.”
See: Poker Face
Poker Face is a smart and slow-burning modern Columbo, led by everyone’s favorite raspy raconteur, Natasha Lyonne. A woman who can tell when Adrien Brody is lying? Honey, that’s called opening your eyes.
Here’s Nick Schager’s take:
“Having rejuvenated the Agatha Christie-esque big-screen murder mystery with Knives Out and Glass Onion, Rian Johnson takes a shot at resurrecting the murder-of-the-week TV procedural with Poker Face. The ten-part Peacock affair is led by Russian Doll’s Natasha Lyonne, playing a modern-day variation on Peter Falk’s homicide detective Columbo. Energized by its headliner’s amusingly charismatic performance, a boatload of guest stars, and a collection of cleverly reversed whodunits, it’s a throwback that confirms the enduring vitality of tried-and-true formulas.
Through its first six episodes (which were all that were provided to press), Poker Face sets itself on a comfortable course through a wild and diverse American landscape marked by nursing homes, dinner theaters, heavy metal clubs, and backwater radio stations. It’s a journey that’s meant to be up and down, and no doubt will be, depending on which Hollywood luminary pops up at a given site. With Lyonne and Johnson at the helm, though, the series proves to be a gamble—on old-school style, attitude and convention—that consistently pays off.”
Skip: Maybe I Do
Maybe I Do piles a bunch of Hollywood legends into one room and gives them a tired and convoluted script to act their way out of. A word of wise to Diane Keaton’s agent: Maybe she shouldn’t.
Here’s Fletcher Peters’ take:
“Last year, The Daily Beast published an article titled “The Rom-Com Revival Is Real!” in reference to the announcement that Richard Gere, Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon, and more would be teaming up for a love story together. That movie, Maybe I Do, has now arrived. After seeing the film, I insist that we rescind this headline—even if the revival of the romantic comedy does exist, it’s got nothing to do with this godawful film.
One might think that, by combining big stars like Gere, Keaton, Sarandon, Emma Roberts, William H. Macy, and Luke Bracey, the movie doesn’t even need to be good. Can’t it survive off of star power alone? No. Absolutely not. We saw this happen with Ticket to Paradise, last year’s utter trainwreck featuring Julia Roberts and George Clooney as two divorced parents bickering at their daughter’s wedding. No matter how splashy your stars may be, nothing can make up for a terrible, unfunny script devoid of all romance.”
Skip: You People
You People is another hamfisted Netflix comedy from Kenya Barris, who writes with all the subtlety of a flaming semi-truck driving through a natural gas plant. Eddie Murphy and Julia Louis-Dreyfus deserve so much better.
Here’s Kyndall Cunningham’s take:
“In 2023, Kenya Barris is the sort of auteur who evokes immediate eye-rolling and straight-up outrage upon the release of a new project. Such was the response to his first Netflix venture #blackAF, released at the start of the pandemic. Black Twitter, as well as some TV critics, raised a number of objections to the one-season sitcom. Among them were Barris’ apparent preference for casting light-skinned women, the show’s awkwardly inserted lectures on slavery, and, of course, that silly title. The prequel to Barris’ hit ABC show Black-ish, the interracial family-based comedy Mixed-ish, garnered many of the same complaints.
With Jonah Hill and Eddie Murphy at the center, You People had the potential to fit in some laughs, even if the overall material is lacking. But almost every single joke and line of dialogue in You People is some cringy, unfunny gag about racism or a mocking depiction of corny white people. You can tell there’s a fair share of improvising, as much of the cast’s main players are known to do. However, these exchanges go on for too long, or it takes an awkward amount of time for a joke to land. In general, the film’s humor lacks the provocative punch it thinks it’s offering, as is par for the course with Barris’ works.
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