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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: You
You Season 4 leans into its psychopathic murderer’s undeniable sexiness by giving the people what they want: Penn Badgley, in tweed, in the U.K.! It’s a bit of a retread, but in an era of Netflix instability, at least we always have Joe.
Here’s Laura Bradley’s take:
“Joe Goldberg seems to be living the dream at the start of You Season 4. Now that he’s murdered his wife, faked his own death, and left his son with a friend (Season 3 was intense!), Penn Badgley’s charming stalker character has made his way to London and goes by the name “Jonathan Moore.” Sadly for him and happily for viewers, however, Joe’s past soon comes back to haunt him in the form of a blackmailing stalker. As a control freak, this might just be Joe’s biggest nightmare–which is what makes it so fun to watch.
Joe spends You Season 4 determined to be a different person—a decent person. You know, someone who does not kill or stalk his neighbors. Viewers will be relieved to know that his success in this area remains spotty at best; for one thing, his priorities change just a little after he wakes from a drugged haze to find a dead body in his apartment. The killer soon begins sending Joe untraceable messages (through an encrypted app they’ve somehow installed on his phone) that make clear they know who ‘Jonathan Moore’ really is. Let the ‘whodunit’ begin.”
Skip: Somebody I Used to Know
Somebody I Used to Know claims to be an elevated take on the classic rom-com, which was apparently code for “a dramedy that takes itself far too seriously.” Alison Brie is still working on that post-Glow glow-up.
Here’s Kyndall Cunningham’s take:
“When 21 Jump Street actor Dave Franco revealed that he and his wife, actress Alison Brie, had co-written an “elevated” romantic comedy in 2020, the Internet—or at least the side that really gives a damn about rom-coms—was set ablaze with criticisms. What does an “elevated” rom-com mean? Why work in a genre that you seemingly dislike enough to distinguish your film as “elevated?” How many rom-coms has Franco seen?
On a technical level, Franco is a competent director but struggles to build up emotion in scenes. Based on his first directorial feature The Rental, co-written with Swanberg, his style is obviously inspired by mumblecore. Unfortunately, Brie and Franco’s script is too mechanical and the performances too constrained to achieve the naturalistic cinema this film tries to mimic. This is not a knock against the film being more of a dramedy than a laugh-out-loud comedy. (I’m a Noah Baumbauch connoisseur.) Likewise, I immediately understood the subtle, balanced tone Franco and Brie were trying to achieve. Nonetheless, Somebody I Used To Know takes itself a little too seriously and is ultimately worn down by its own austerity.”
See: Magic Mike’s Last Dance
Magic Mike’s Last Dance finds Channing Tatum bidding adieu to his boys and heads to London for a steamy, spellbinding finale featuring plenty of Salma Hayek Pinault. And, yes, glistening abs.
Here’s Nick Schager’s take:
“It’s been 11 years since Channing Tatum first bared it all in Magic Mike, and yet Magic Mike’s Last Dance proves that he still has a trick or two up his G-string. Director Steven Soderbergh’s latest is a threequel that’s simultaneously a continuation of its predecessors and, in terms of setting, story and tone, a bold departure that caps one of cinema’s most uniquely steamy trilogies. Delivering the male-entertainment goods while radiating a newfound degree of tender romanticism, it’s a fairy-tale coda that’s at once sensual, lyrical, and liberating.
Despite its title, Tatum’s Mike plays second-fiddle to Salma Hayek’s Max, an imposing if wounded older woman whose craving for release and rejuvenation (not to mention revenge) is echoed by the old-turned-new show she produces with Mike, as well as the architectural modifications she makes to her theater. Soderbergh doesn’t linger too long on any single plot detail because his real focus is the heat between his two leads, and that culminates during the prolonged finale involving Mike’s daring revue. Dance’s capacity to heal, remake, renew, and bring together is all celebrated by Magic Mike’s Last Dance, which sets aside boisterous bumping and grinding for an intimate brand of eroticism, even as it expands its canvas to new dimensions. It’s a farewell lap-dance that’s all the more inviting for being so unanticipated.”
Skip: Your Place or Mine
Your Place or Mine can’t quite match the classic Nora Ephron rom-coms it’s aiming for, even with Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher turning on the charm. How about no one’s place? How about we just go home?
Here’s Fletcher Peters’ take:
“Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher recently went viral for their lack of chemistry at the premiere of their new Netflix romantic comedy, Your Place or Mine. The pair stood a foot apart from each other, lopsided smiles splashed across their faces, looking like a pair of middle schoolers who just exited a closet after a Seven Minutes in Heaven session spent entirely talking about the weather and a mean gym teacher. There were no sparks between them, clearly. But, hey, at least they were actually in the same room, something Your Place or Mine completely fails to do.
Though Your Place of Mine has many signature rom-com elements—the houses are big, bright, and beautiful; the cities sparkle while our leads fall in love; the side characters are quippy and fun—the romantic heart of the movie is drained into a dry, soulless dump. It’s hard to mess up a friends-to-lovers plot starring two beautiful A-List stars with rom-com credentials. But putting them in no scenes physically together, their feelings for each other strapped to a flimsy friendship based on one hook-up, will do it. Instead of debating whose place to stay at, maybe Kutcher and Witherspoon should’ve booked a hotel in the middle to spend some quality time together.”
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