The Five Star Weekend Review: Get on Board With the Ideal Summer Retreat

Ah, midsummer. For many of us, it’s that time of year when we are on the brink of exhaustion, we’ve been sweaty for so, so long, and wow, at the end of the day, we just want to enjoy a cold beverage and a nice TV show. If, like it does for me, this describes exactly how you’re feeling these days, you’re going to be so into The Five Star Weekend. 

The Peacock series based on the novel of the same name by Elin Hilderbrand — a queen of the beach read — is the kind of Nancy Meyers-lite series (the food shots! the aspirationally styled interiors!) that absolutely hits when you’re looking for a show that is well done but not too taxing. You know, like a good beach read. The Five Star Weekend follows Hollis Shaw (Jennifer Garner), a food influencer and chef, who decides to invite four friends from different eras of her life for a weekend at her spectacular house on Nantucket following the death of her husband, Matthew (Josh Hamilton). Hollis says she’s hosting in order to feel like herself again, but it’s evident from the get-go that she’s actually trying to distract from her unresolved grief. 

And she’ll be happy to learn that distraction abounds when her friends get together. There’s her childhood best friend, Tatum (Chloë Sevigny), who is facing a health crisis; college bestie Dru-Ann (Regina Hall), a sports agent who is currently being canceled on the internet; Brooke (D’Arcy Carden), Hollis’ mom friend, who has some real repression going on and is dealing with self-esteem issues courtesy of her terrible husband (Rob Huebel); and pilot Gigi (Gemma Chan), one of Hollis’ Instagram followers, who became her buddy in grief and, in a twist, is connected to Hollis in a surprising way. Hollis does her best to control the events of her special weekend, but they of course go off the rails pretty quickly. That’s called creating drama, baby. 

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All of that is, admittedly, a lot to cover in just eight episodes, and because of the time crunch — there’s also an entire subplot for Hollis’ college-aged daughter, Caroline (Harlow Jane), and time spent with a tertiary antagonist played by Judy Greer who inexplicably gets wedged in there, too — some characters get the shaft more than others. Chan’s Gigi, especially, feels light, when arguably she deserves the most time to fill out a lot of her choices, both present and past. While Gigi and Hollis do, eventually, get to have a real confrontation, it’s not exactly satisfying emotionally or in regards to wrapping up the story. That being said, the caliber of this cast makes it incredibly easy to overlook some of this show’s faults. 

After a rather clunky 20 minutes of place setting in the premiere episode to get all of our main cast together at the Shaw house, the chemistry between all five of our main characters is so instant and so strong that after one dinner scene, I knew I’d follow these women wherever showrunner Bekah Brunstetter was going to take them.

7.0

The Five Star Weekend

Like

• The straightforward adult drama feels refreshing in its relatability
• The chemistry between the five main characters is instant and incredibly charming
• Chloë Sevigny!

Dislike

• Some characters are underserved with so many storylines to deal with
• The timeframe can make some arcs feel rushed

The reliable Jennifer Garner remains as deft as ever at maneuvering between Hollis’ restrained control freak side and her emotional breakdowns (and breakthroughs). The series is about a lot of things, including complicated female friendships, the ups and downs of middle age, and figuring out your identity in regards to your career and your personal life, but the show really shines in its depiction of grief. The scenes in which Garner and Jane really grapple with Hollis’ and Caroline’s individual grief and what that grief has done to their relationship as mother and daughter are gorgeous and emotional without ever leaning too much on the cheese of it all.

While every actress gets some noteworthy moments, the biggest surprise of the series is Chloë Sevigny. We’ve always known, of course, that Sevigny is incredibly talented — the surprise is that she would take on a role in such a mainstream, emotional drama in the first place. The indie queen brings such a layered authenticity to Tatum that it’s hard to believe she hasn’t been doing roles like this all along. Sevigny and Garner’s chemistry feels so lived in, and as Hollis and Tatum navigate the resentment and rifts that can come with old friendships, it was their scenes that I looked forward to the most. Let’s do all ourselves a favor and put those two together in more things immediately.

There are certainly moments of silliness, both intentional and not, in The Five Star Weekend, and because of the show’s self-imposed framework — as the title tells us, this is all taking place over one weekend — some of the character arcs feel rushed or far fetched. But the performances from the five women at the center of the show more than make up for any of these problems. I didn’t know how much I had been craving a solid, straightforward emotional adult drama about relatable adult problems until one landed in my lap. Despite some flaws, The Five Star Weekend is an excellent little tonic of a TV show, lifted up by its refreshing groundedness and packed with characters and performances you won’t mind spending a few long summer days with.

Premieres: Thursday, July 9 on Peacock
Who’s in it: Jennifer Garner, Chloë Sevigny, Regina Hall, D’Arcy Carden, Gemma Chan
Who’s behind it: Bekah Brunstetter
For fans of: Any Nancy Meyers movie, stories about complicated female friendships, a good time where you might also cry a little
Episodes watched: 8 of 8