- Network: Netflix
- Series Premiere Date: Sep 5, 2024
Critic Reviews
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Disappointingly, going by the first four episodes of The Perfect Couple, it’s a tad soft-boiled. For this sort of thing to work, as with The White Lotus, the script has to be dagger-sharp, merciless. When that attitude isn’t there in the writing, you sense timidity.
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Yes, it’s schmaltzy, silly and very soapy — but the compelling plotting, well-established characters and sheer star power of The Perfect Couple will have you hooked.
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The only reasons we’re recommending The Perfect Couple are Hewson, Fanning, and our fervent hope that the series continues to be more irreverent than most shows in this annoyingly persistent genre.
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The series is at its best in the earlier episodes, when we're getting to know the characters, the mystery is in its early stages and we're getting drip-fed twists. Unfortunately, it feels as though the series, or certainly the book upon which it was based, doesn't know where to stop in this department.
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The Perfect Couple has all the soapy twists you could want from an easily digestible binge-fest and it’s graciously short compared to most. But a mansion full of horny, caustic millionaires has been done better elsewhere.
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The Perfect Couple is trash but it is top-notch trash, a show aiming only for sugar-hit moreishness and hitting the mark in almost every scene.
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None of the performances are breakouts, but at least Reynor and Fanning have a delightful time playing a cocky married duo. But it honestly almost feels like the cast wanted a swanky vacation in Nantucket, and the results come off as confounding as some of Kidman’s recent TV choices.
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While this miniseries has great performances from its A-listers and a few deliciously dysfunctional family moments, it ultimately feels like the streaming equivalent of an airport novel, just entertaining enough to keep your divided attention but already fading out of memory as airplane wheels hit the tarmac.
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It’s complication for complication’s sake, basically window dressing for a show that boils down to the idea that rich people are weird. Now there’s still some joy in watching but you’ll have to decide if you like Nicole Kidman enough to spend six hours with these terrible people.
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Intriguing side plots get cut off. Curious character arcs stop short. Any kind of class commentary is negated by the show’s obvious devotion to making sure you like this family.
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Hamstrung by the need to keep us guessing for six whole hours, when the plot clearly cries out for the efficiency of a two-hour film, the scripts render most of the Winburys and their associates too one-note to even seem worth getting to know.
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The Perfect Couple is by-the-numbers Netflix pulp. In its lack of originality, it invites comparison with Big Little Lies, but absent the tension and intrigue of that drama, we’re left with something as superficial and unfulfilled as the family it depicts.