Critic Reviews
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Thanks to fellow standouts Amanda Peet and Olivia Munn, a somewhat formulaic look at the lives of the wealthy still has moments rife with chemistry and the feeling of something more interesting bubbling beneath the surface. And though it promises some thrilling heists and sizzling secrets, this pricey drama comes up short.
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It isn’t screaming for another nine (or multiple of nine) episodes to conclude its business, to make its points. I could certainly stand to see more of Ali/Hall, it’s true. Still, I’d like these people to get it together sooner than later.
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It’s all very easy on the eye. Showrunner Jonathan Tropper has written a solid, if uninspiring story, and Apple have brought it to the screen with the sort of colour palette you’d expect from a DFS advert. And yet there’s something a bit insipid about Your Friends & Neighbours.
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You long for this show to catch fire, to burn through its fears and choose just one of the many brilliant things it could be.
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It just doesn’t seem interested in anything delving any deeper in the traditional Peak TV way (which this very much wants to be). There are a few stabs at cultural commentary, like expensive Scotch as a metaphor for social standing, and the occasional oblivious obscene consumption. But not much deeper than that.
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Something about the breaking-bad comedy (which, it should be stressed, Hamm is really good and basically perfectly cast in) isn’t quite clicking.
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Overwritten and underbaked, Your Friends & Neighbors borrows from other, better shows — notably star Jon Hamm’s Mad Men — but falls short by comparison.
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Instead of taking risks, it’s generally accommodating, content to be real estate porn and a gentle lampooning of real estate porn all at once — which makes it easier for Apple to call it a drama, when I like it much more when it’s being a dark comedy. Regardless, to return to Cheever, it’s a show that’s too content to swim with a too conventional tide.
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“Your Friends and Neighbors” isn’t a let-down because it falls short of greatness. It’s a let-down because it doesn’t try that hard to be great.
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“Your Friends and Neighbors” is basic and tiresome, just marking time until getting back to Coop’s increasing immersion in the criminal underworld. There are glimpses of the more exciting, layered show that “Your Friends and Neighbors” could have been, especially when Coop and Elena are working together, challenging each other’s received notions about class and gender. Those moments are far too fleeting, and they lack any urgency or momentum, despite strong chemistry between Hamm and Carrero.