Doll & Em
HBO | Sky Living | Sky Witness | Release Date: March 19, 2014
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
63
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
10
Negative:
1

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Entertainment WeeklyMelissa MaerzSep 8, 2015
Season 2 Review: A devastating deconstruction of the double standards women face in the entertainment industry, and a touching valentine to a grownup friendship that's weathered rough times. [11 Sep 2015, p.56]
88
Slant MagazineChris CabinMar 20, 2014
Season 1 Review: Doll & Em turns out to be unerringly fair-minded in its view of popular filmmaking, if only because concerns about Hollywood's shallowness are secondary to ideas of age and, inevitably, death. Read full review
80
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoMar 20, 2014
Season 1 Review: It's a very smart, insightful piece about the delicate balance of success and insecurity within a female friendship. Read full review
80
PopMattersMaysa HattabMar 19, 2014
Season 1 Review: It’s not always clear what either woman gains from the friendship, and while maintaining the imbalance of power would feed the show’s bleakly comic seam, the fourth episode’s final scene suggests an impending shift when both Em and Doll audition for the same role, creating new and welcome tensions going forward. Read full review
80
Denver PostJoanne OstrowMar 5, 2014
Season 1 Review: Think of Doll & Em as a collection of short stories rather than half-hour comedies and it’s quite absorbing. Read full review
75
New York PostSara StewartMar 17, 2014
Season 1 Review: The writing is sharp and believable, the chemistry between the two best friends obviously an advantage and the star cameos well-deployed. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyAmy WilkinsonMar 14, 2014
Season 1 Review: The two-part debut starts off anemic, but serves up redemptive meat (soy protein?) when they hit up a Hollywood bigwig's celeb-filled party. [21 Mar 2014, p.58] Read full review
75
People WeeklyTom GliattoMar 13, 2014
Season 1 Review: This partly improvised comedy is closer to Girls than All About Eve: wistful yet stinging, silly yet wise about the instability of even the deepest friendships. [24 Mar 2014, p.37]
70
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen GrayMar 19, 2014
Season 1 Review: It's at its best--if not necessarily its funniest--when Em and Doll are struggling to find a balance between their childhood selves and the more demanding adults they've become. Read full review
70
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniMar 19, 2014
Season 1 Review: It's hardly required viewing, but it's enjoyable, light fun. Read full review
70
SlateWilla PaskinMar 19, 2014
Season 1 Review: It is a very reliable deliverer of certain genre pleasures. Read full review
70
Washington PostHank StueverMar 19, 2014
Season 1 Review: An awkwardly funny and occasionally heartbreaking attempt to peel back the many meanings and layers of friendship. Read full review
70
The New York TimesAlessandra StanleyMar 18, 2014
Season 1 Review: The story is framed by the outsize absurdities of show business, but Doll & Em is a character study in miniature. Read full review
70
VarietyBrian LowryMar 18, 2014
Season 1 Review: Mortimer and Wells are both fine, juggling dramatic moments with more farcical ones, but this is still a fairly slight project even by HBO’s less-exacting standards. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalNancy DeWolf SmithMar 13, 2014
Season 1 Review: Despite some funny and even pungent moments, in fact, Doll & Em is so gentle that you can barely feel anything. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubErik AdamsMar 19, 2014
Season 1 Review: It’s painfully funny at times, and occasionally poignant. In between those peaks, however, it’s needlingly formless. Read full review
50
VarietyBrian LowrySep 9, 2015
Season 2 Review: Too often, Doll & Em feels like a poor man’s (or woman’s) version of Ricky Gervais’ “Extras,” providing a rather jaundiced Brits-eye-view of showbiz. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Matt Zoller SeitzMar 21, 2014
Season 1 Review: Despite its refreshing commitment to realism, Doll & Em is ultimately too relaxed and meandering for its own good. There are times when you may wish it had embraced the occasional cliches with more gusto. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeSarah RodmanMar 19, 2014
Season 1 Review: There are definite laughs and tears to be wrung from Doll & Em, but the actresses’ own inherent likability and warmth toward each other, oddly enough work against the premise. Read full review
50
HitfixAlan SepinwallMar 19, 2014
Season 1 Review: Every beat of that material is predictable and clumsy and unfunny. Read full review
50
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob OwenMar 19, 2014
Season 1 Review: Much of the comedy comes out of that type of awkwardness but Doll & Em is less a comedy-of-the-uncomfortable series (a la a female "Curb Your Enthusiasm") and more just kind of slow and boring. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushMar 19, 2014
Season 1 Review: While sporadically and quietly amusing, the entire enterprise has the whiff of an in-joke vanity production. Read full review
50
Uncle BarkyEd BarkMar 19, 2014
Season 1 Review: There’s some enjoyment to be had from the lead performances of real-life best friends Emily Mortimer (The Newsroom) and Dolly Wells (Bridget Jones’s Diary). A brisk walk would be better for you, though. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandMar 18, 2014
Season 1 Review: It has some promise at first but quickly becomes predictable. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleyMar 19, 2014
Season 1 Review: The latest British girlfriends comedy is anything but absolutely fabulous. Sadly, it’s a bit tedious. Read full review
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