There has been no happy ever after for the romcom, which has spent the past 20 years in a purgatorial funk. A mainstay of 1990s cinema, in our new streaming dystopia, the genre has lived a ghastly half-death as Netflix binge fodder, such as The Kissing Booth, and outright offences against good art and basic human decency, with Emily in Paris being the most conspicuous example.
But if Netflix has done its best to slay the romcom, it has also helped bring it back to life via the blockbusting Nobody Wants This (Netflix, Thursday). The affable relationship drama stars Adam Brody as a largely agreeable rabbi and Kristen Bell as a hugely annoying podcast host.
Series one concluded with the couple finally getting together after the traditional misunderstandings and last-minute reconciliation. As season two begins, they’re adjusting to the post-honeymoon phase of their existence together. Can their timeless love survive contact with real life?
It would not be a romcom if all were sweetness and light and cracks are quick to appear. Bell’s Joanne shares public details about Noah (Brody’s) bedside habits on the whinging relationship podcast she hosts with her younger sister, Morgan (Succession’s Justine Lupe). Then there is the issue of Joanne converting to Judaism – something in which she has little interest but which would do wonders for Noah’s career.
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The stakes are low and the banter is quickfire – as epitomised by a disastrous dinner party the new couple throw for their irritating friends. There is a lot of cringe comedy – though you wonder whether the show is in on the joke of Joanne being a toe-curling podcaster or expects us to be charmed by her.
The success of season one has opened the door to high-wattage guest stars. They include Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester as an old school friend of Joanne who has become a superstar momfluencer and Seth Rogen as a rabbi rival of Noah.
But the newcomers are largely window dressing, given that every romcom lives or dies according to the plausibility of the central couple. In that regard, Nobody Wants This passes muster. Joanne and Noah have authentic chemistry, particularly when they argue (which they do a lot). The show is, however, stolen by Lupe, who brings the same deadpan and quietly deranged quality to Morgan as she did to her trophy girlfriend in Succession. I’m not sure Nobody Wants This is a comedy anyone would need to spend the rest of their lives with – but a solid second series confirms there is no need to break things off just yet.
