Everyone knows the stereotype of the long-suffering sitcom spouse, proper? She’s means too sizzling for her proudly immature husband, and he or she quietly stays within the background whereas he hogs the highlight?
Properly, AMC’s new dramedy Kevin Can F**k Himself — premiering Sunday, June 20 at 9/8c — goals to explode that stereotype, promising a meta satire that demolishes these creaky outdated TV clichés. (The title even refers to a very notorious instance of the style: the Kevin James-Erinn Hayes CBS sitcom Kevin Can Wait.) However after watching the primary 4 episodes, I’m pondering perhaps this was a greater concept than an precise collection, as a result of the result’s a grim, disagreeable mishmash that doesn’t actually work on both finish. The satire is suffocating… and we find yourself feeling suffocated, too.
Schitt’s Creek alum Annie Murphy stars as Allison, a stressed-out spouse who solely serves as a nag and a moist blanket to her boorish husband Kevin (Eric Petersen). Their scenes collectively are shot like a hacky sitcom, full with snicker observe. However as soon as Allison will get time to herself, her world turns into a moody, single-camera drama with no laughs in any respect. (It’s The King of Queens inside her home, and Mare of Easttown outdoors of it.) She’s clearly sad along with her life, and her pent-up rage and resentment begin spilling out at inopportune instances. She even fantasizes about stabbing her husband within the throat and beginning contemporary as a widow.
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It’s a set-up wealthy with potential, to make certain, and the sitcom scenes are correct… however that simply means they’re terrible. Kevin is a grotesque, lazy-eyed lout (he’s a New England Patriots fan, simply to make him much more unbearable), and we by no means get rationalization as to why Allison can be married to him within the first place, or why she wouldn’t simply depart him. And there’s an excessive amount of of him: For some cause, Kevin insists on working a full-length sitcom plot into every episode, with all of the tacky punchlines you’d anticipate. It’s well-executed, all the way down to the overly vibrant lighting and broad performances, however as soon as we get the concept, why do we’ve got to maintain seeing it? That is Allison’s hell. Why do we’ve got to reside in it, too?
Allison’s actual world, although, isn’t rather more satisfying or sharply written than the sitcom world. The dramatic scenes appear to be going for a Breaking Unhealthy vibe, as Allison dips her toe into the native prison underworld, but it surely’s onerous to get invested in her journey. The present hesitates to go all the best way and make her a full-blown killer, so her character finally ends up being frustratingly wishy-washy. Plus, there’s a crushing unhappiness to her scenes that simply turns into oppressive. We would like (we’d like!) to see her win sometimes, however anytime she will get a faint glimmer of salvation, it’s swiftly snuffed out, in a means that borders on sadistic.
It’s simple to know why Murphy would take this function, simply primarily based on the premise, however the ample charms she confirmed on Schitt’s Creek are muted right here. (Her fleeting Bahstahn accent is a distraction, too.) Mary Hollis Inboden has some good moments as sarcastic neighbor Patty, who reluctantly befriends Allison and has secrets and techniques of her personal, however many of the forged outdoors of Murphy is both intentionally irritating or simply forgettable. It’s a disgrace, as a result of there’s TV present to be made a few sitcom spouse’s secret double life. (WandaVision explored related concepts with a lot higher success.) However right here, the idea turns bitter and curdled, and we find yourself as depressing as Allison is.
THE TVLINE BOTTOM LINE: AMC’s Kevin Can F**okay Himself wastes an intriguing idea by mixing hacky sitcom antics with a crushingly grim tone.