by Dov Kornits
Worth: $15.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Megan Stalter, Will Sharpe, Emily Ratajkowski, Michael Zegen, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Richard E. Grant, Lena Dunham, Rita Wilson, Rhea Perlman, Andrew Rannells, Janicza Bravo, Leo Reich, Kit Harington
Intro:
clever, engaging and very funny in parts ...
This is not Girls for 30-year-olds.
Thankfully (Or is it? Depends who you ask), Lena Dunham has evolved, and her highly anticipated return to episodic series isn’t something that she comped against her breakthrough success from 13 years ago. She’s left the comping to marketing execs and reviewers like us.
Yes, its representation of life, love and sex is as chaotic and unfiltered as ever, however, the tone of Too Much is something altogether different.
One of the main reasons that the tone is different is because of Megan Stalter, who plays Jessica, a below the line gofer in TV and advertising land in New York, who once dreamt of becoming a film director. She recently broke up with the guy that she thought she would be with forever, Zev, an entitled dick wannabe author, and who has hooked up with influencer/model Wendy (Emily Ratajkowski). After losing her shit, Jessica leaves the matriarchy (sex-obsessed grandmother played by Rhea Perlman, forever young mum played by Rita Wilson and depressed sister played by Lena Dunham – Kit Harington pops up in flashbacks as her dad) and heads to London for work, where she very quickly meets the enigmatic couch-surfing, gigging muso Felix (Will Sharpe).
Obsessed with Notting Hill and other British romantic cliches, Jessica is shocked to discover that the ‘estate’ where she is staying isn’t a picturesque palace, but a housing commission style block of flats. Other surprises include her new work colleagues, an ad agency run by Richard E. Grant’s narcissist (married to Naomi Watts, who we meet in one of the most excessive dinner parties ever), with colleagues that are eccentric, to say the least, and who don’t seem to do any work. The style of humour here, in particular, is unlike Dunham’s previous, more grounded material; it’s caricature, funny for funny sake. And just wait until you see Andrew Scott’s film director and Rita Ora’s Rita Ora!
Megan Stalter, best known for her quirky role in Hacks, is an idiosyncratic performer. This is another breakout role for her, but how much you go along for the ride will depend on how much Stalter you can bear. As a supporting/character actor in small doses, she’s great, a real scene stealer, but here she is in virtually every scene, and the situations that she has to express through – from crying to Dunham-style unfiltered sex scenes to slapstick – will prove testing. On the flipside, Will Sharpe once again steals the show (he did a similar trick in S2 of The White Lotus) – this is going to do for Sharpe (who also writes and directs!) what Girls did for Adam Driver, you heard it here first!
Too Much truly lives up to its title. Whilst clever, engaging and very funny in parts, it is also highly idiosyncratic and won’t be for everyone. It’s also not quite as profound as Girls proved to be. But who’s comparing?
