Nobody Wants This

Much like Noah is won over by Joanne's candor and bubbly personality, the audience is also instantly drawn into their bond. Bell and Brody are simply irresistible as the show's leading pair, making their onscreen partnership feel like a match made in millennial heaven.

Bell and Brody have an easy touch that gives the comedy real buoyancy. .... Figuring out how and when to give a partner grace is an ongoing process that tests all relationships. Joanne and Noah manage it with emotional intelligence and emotional intimacy, which is rare on TV. Lovers don’t have to be written as immature or cruel to create stakes or capture your attention. Joanne and Noah are fully realized characters who happen to be great screen company.

It's possible a story that relies on stereotypes and cultural truisms could have turned into something soapy and insensitive, but propelled by its leads and keen sense of modern comedy, "Nobody" adds up its disparate parts into something delightful and delicious. The 10-episode season is bingeable in the most literal sense; you'll want to eat it all up in one sitting.

Netflix’s caustically funny romantic comedy Nobody Wants This is a charming showcase for Kristen Bell and Adam Brody.

Despite the predictability, Nobody Wants This is a gem because it feels authentic. And that’s just one reason why we certainly want this.

It’s not perfect: the opener is clunky and the podcast element could be funnier. Still, it’s witty and naughty (“Are all guys medically stupid?”) and the huge cast, including Veep’s Timothy Simons, are uniformly excellent.

Kristen Bell and Adam Brody’s authentic chemistry, a funny and moving script, and its ability to deliver memorable romantic moments make Nobody Wants This a thoroughly entertaining way to spend a weekend.

Beyond its stars, Nobody Wants This succeeds in attaining what is key to a good rom-com: a cast of delightfully funny supporting characters.

Nobody Wants This means to serve up a good time, and that’s precisely what it delivers. There’s a real frisson to the way the show goes down so smoothly. Bell and Brody possess chemistry that’s simply bursting at the seams, and the show honors the fantasy of its genre by keeping the interpersonal conflict to an absolute minimum.

“Nobody Wants This” succeeds by keeping faith with its genre. It is not a nostalgic curio — the characters and the rhythms of their interactions feel up-to-date, at least by mainstream Hollywood standards — but there is a comforting continuity with things you have seen and liked before. Familiar moves are executed with confidence and a certain amount of style. That smooth rom-com fluency, and the feeling it inspires that here is something we have been missing.

And as much as the dil-do and dil-don’t jokes, text-message mishaps and overbearing parents keep the show ticking along freshly with fun, it’s the old-fashioned chemistry between Bell and Brody that will keep the audience coming back.

Even if the whole opposites-attract setup can read as artificial, the warmth between Bell and Brody feels exhilaratingly real. You just want to see them banter and kiss and snuggle and thrive. Implausible as it can be in terms of interfaith representation, through sheer chemistry and chutzpah, Nobody Wants This earns enough goodwill to merit another attempt in Season 2.

Small niggles aside, this is a warm, funny and blisteringly romantic giant hug of show.

The whole thing is an enjoyable mix of romcom escapism and sometimes acerbic realism. Joanne and Noah are a couple you want to root for.

So, can these two people be together even if just one thing keeps them apart? Can the hot rabbi date the pretty gentile and ultimately end up with her? On “Nobody Wants This,” the answer is obvious — but my goodness, it’s fun to watch them try.

Of course, it’s all in the execution, and the good news is that “Nobody Wants This” is a smart, breezy, warmhearted and consistently funny show, with each episode playing like a mini version of an endearing rom-com.

It’s bouncy and pleasant, with likable — or eventually likable — characters, some of whom will present problems for the couple along the way.

Even though we don’t completely buy the chemistry between Kristen Bell and Adam Brody, Nobody Wants This is funny enough, and the supporting characters robust enough, to keep us watching to see if Bell and Brody’s characters mesh a little better.

There is a certain amount of suspension of disbelief required for Nobody Wants This. .... The highly bingeable series has excellent comedy writing and a strong cast who move the episodes along at a quick clip. But even with all its on-point humor, Nobody Wants This has an undercurrent of seriousness, which puts it a few notches above the average sitcom.

Nobody Wants This hasn’t convinced me that Joanne and Noah are a couple worth the fight.

Nobody Want This has some funny banter, particularly whenever our lead couple are joined by their respective siblings. [Oct 2024, p.77]

Nobody Wants This has room to grow in a second season that I’d still love to see, despite my reservations. In response to the show’s title, it isn’t that I don’t want this. I actually want this badly. But to reference a complete unconnected rom-com … it’s complicated.

Noughties nostalgists will probably love it, but it’s the up-to-date elements that grate.

Despite the name, plenty of people will want to watch “Nobody Wants This.” I just doubt they’ll have lasting memories of it. Not that there’s much to remember, in terms of either conflict or depth of character.

Nobody Wants This seems to think that it’s exploring the complex ins and outs of a modern relationship; really, it’s a lot of well-off people making wan jokes while gazing at their navels.