Nine Perfect Strangers

An ensemble that both highlights these characters’ strengths and humanizes their weaknesses. Leading the charge is Nicole Kidman in a role practically designed for her. ... The result is a show that’s as addicting and delightfully soapy as HBO’s summer hit The White Lotus.

A cocktail of emotions which shows off its supremely talented cast, the Hulu series successfully steps out of the shadows of Big Little Lies and The Undoing and continually hits you with its increasingly chaotic and claustrophobic storylines.

This eight-part melodrama never quite settles in a tone, in part because the clientele is such a mixed bag of soap opera cliches. ... Strangers, with its hallucinatory trippiness, is more about the surreal. [30 Aug - 12 Sep 2021, p.14]

With a mini-reunion of key players from "Big Little Lies" at its core, Nine Perfect Strangers combines a book by Liane Moriarty with Nicole Kidman and writer-producer David E. Kelley, then surrounds them with an equally impressive cast. The series is another one of those riddles wrapped in a mystery, managing to pique interest while remaining stingy about disgorging big truths, much less little lies.

David E. Kelley, the busy scripter who can go as high (“The Practice”) as he can go low (“The Crazy Ones”); “Nine Perfect Strangers” (co-written with John-Henry Butterworth) falls somewhere in the middle of his reach, at times lifted to the upper-middle by the performances. Watching this set of actors submit to Masha’s smoothies is a lot of fun, as is their obligation to go “forest bathing,” forgo cellphones, and explore their most tender emotional depths.

The ensemble is large enough that if one isn’t particularly engaged by the character on-screen, one simply has to wait five minutes for the weather to change. ... One wishes for more Kidman: Not a bigger performance, which seems impossible, but one that more firmly holds the show’s center. ... While we may crave more Masha, there’s interest, still, in watching characters place themselves in her thrall.

While there is a sameness to all three of Kidman’s most recent TV/streaming projects, there’s no denying they’re addictive soaps. “Nine Perfect Strangers” benefits tremendously from Hall playing against type and the presence of McCarthy, who is so good in dramatic roles that she ought to consider passing on more of the blah comedies she’s starred in of late.