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The Undoing (2020)
Show asks viewer to suspend judgement: hardly clever
There is a murder. The shows points to Hugh Grant's character as the obvious culprit. He is quite obviously the murderer. Then the shows tells me "No no no it's not what seems obvious". So, quite reluctantly, I accept to consider alternative possibilities: Grace, her dad, the husband, her friend, heck why not the kid. Then the shows reveals in the last episode "Aha! It was the obvious murderer ALL ALONG YOU FOOL". Ok.
I suspect that I as the audience am supposed to be in Nicole Kidman's character's shoes and undergo the same experience of giving Jonathan the benefit of the doubt in spite of knowing better. I guess there lies the purpose of following the events from Grace's pov (sort of). That would be fine and cool if I was fooled for the same reasons - Jonathan's so-called charm.
The problem is that I suspended judgement not because Jonathan is so charming but because the show insisted that I do so, in spite of him looking like a massive liar from the first time he appears on screen (great performance by Hugh Grant there). So the result is not as interesting than if I had fallen for the charms of a narcissist. On a related note: this might be linked to the fact that at this point having Hugh Grant play a secret D*** is not really subversive or a surprise anymore since Bridget Jones 20 YEARS AGO.
Happiest Season (2020)
A truly unpleasant 102 minutes
The main character, Abby, gets treated horribly by her girlfriend and her family and this is never addressed. The film pretends that the problem is Harper not coming out to her family and the troubles this causes for her relationship, but really all the problems come from her being a huge d*** to her patient girlfriend. I suspect the parents are supposed to be laughed at, but for me they were just too mean. Let's say that Abby really was just a friend of Harper's, even so, the way she gets treated is just too rude for me to be entertained by the "comedy". It was painful to watch her spend horrible days alone in a foreign place, abandoned by the woman she hopes to marry who is too busy flirting with her ex boyfriend (she's not even flirting with her hot ex girlfriend Aubrey Plaza!). Moreover we learn that Harper did something horrible in high school and that's also not a problem. The ending is ridiculous- as if conservative parents and competitive sibblings can turn around overnight. The writers could have made an effort there. The problem is that i am asked to forgive Harper and the family and be happy that Abby is going to be part of their gang but they have been written unredeemable- so the only way to do this is to take a leap of faith.
I can't believe this is supposed to be heart warming and funny.
The only good things in this movie are Daniel Levy, Aubrey Plaza and K-Stew but mostly because I feel so sorry for what she's going through and that they didn't give her more things to do as the talented charismatic actress that she is.