Friends From College

It always feels like Friends From College could be exerting a little more effort.

Germann plays Sam’s husband, who at first seems distant but then reveals touching devotion to his family. If only the main cast had such material to shine.

Friends From College is largely uncomfortable to watch, although when it’s funny, it can be brilliant. The show’s biggest crime is that it overestimates its audience’s tolerance for watching people screw up.

Friends From College is a mess. It’s a messy story with messy structuring and messy characters, and while the last point may sound like an attribute for a mature adult comedy about aging, relationships, and responsibilities, be warned: These characters won’t stimulate fresh thought or delight you with their quirks. ... Brief, random bits of their inherent charm pop up, but they’re almost instantly squashed by circumstance or a quick cut to the next scene.

Despite its top-flight cast, something less than the sum of its often ill-fitting parts. If the series bumps along at times as if it had one triangular wheel, it has plenty of funny moments and some genuinely lovely performances.

The show doesn't have much narrative momentum, which makes the eight episodes at times feel slightly disconnected.

The show and the characters try to wedge the sitcom schtick into the dark reality of maturity and vice versa and the show and the characters fail. There are effective beats of drama in Ethan and Lisa's fertility saga and they're constantly undermining or getting undermined by comedy. The fictional characters, actual human life and the overall world of Friends From College are often working on three different levels, which may be exactly the kind of show that Friends From College is aspiring to be.

There are a few funny lines here and there. But too few of them, and too far in between, makes Friends From College that rare Netflix misfire.

At the very least, Friends from College manages to have its fair share of funny moments, especially when getting into a consistent flow of levity. It’s just a shame that these scenes often sidestep into intentionally cringe-inducing drama that needs a better evaluation of the stakes.

You end up identifying more with the people from outside the group, looking on as these people force friendships with folks from their past they’ve clearly outgrown. As viewers, we know how they feel.

A promising generational sitcom that might have had something to offer its target audience of middle-aged folks raised on Friends but squanders all of our interest with mirthless, misguided strategies for holding it. The only spectacle it offers is the shocking magic trick of turning a bright, dazzling cast into a bunch of dim bulbs.

There’s more at stake than in your average sitcom, but the antics are juvenile, and the tone is all over the place.

All the stars are as likable and watchable as you might think they’d be, yet the show that they’re in is nearly bereft of humor or poignance. It’s as though everyone signed on without reading a script and, good sports all, just forged ahead anyway.