The new Netflix comedy Uncoupled has two big selling points: Neil Patrick Harris and Darren Star.
Harris has had a prolific presence in television and film since becoming the cherubic Doogie Howser in 1989. Known for his high-energy charisma, Harris has the prestige to carry a series on the strength of his multiple talents.
The other name above is Star, a television writer who has created some of the most well-known soap operas and soap operas such as Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, Sex and the city, Younger i Emily in Paris.
Combined, Harris and Star’s mega power shines uncoupleda bubbly and cute half-hour series about Michael (Harris), a gay man in his forties who is dumped without warning by Colin (Tuc Watkins), his partner of 17 years.
While Michael is throwing an elaborate surprise 50th birthday party for Colin, Colin breaks the news: not only is she leaving him, but she’s already moved out.
Michael is abandoned and missing. There were no warning signs that anything was wrong in his beautifully furnished Manhattan apartment, and Colin doesn’t explain why he left.
As he tries to process the shock of this sudden life change, Michael returns to the dating scene. He finds that a lot has changed in the two decades he’s been out, and Grindr’s tag on d**k photos is just one of countless challenges.
The appeal of shows like uncoupled it’s that they create a welcoming world where everyone is attractive, well-dressed and sharp. They have fascinating jobs (art gallery owner! TV meteorologist!), and they always say exactly the right thing at the right time, almost as if they have Hollywood writers scripting their witty and sometimes insightful dialogue.
Even seemingly insurmountable emotional traumas have a sheen. There are brief scenes of Michael’s depressed state, scrolling through old photos of him and Colin, but not the endless ugly cries or bouts of catatonia that trigger the crushing breakups.
Any truncated episode of angst is usually quickly followed by whining sessions with Michael’s sassy friends, like Suzanne (Tisha Campbell), Billy (Emerson Brooks) and Stanley (Brooks Ashmanskas), where the reaction can undermine the emotional truth of a moment .
There are flashes of rawer emotion between Michael and Claire (Marcia Gay Harden), a super-rich divorcee still reeling from being dumped by her husband for a much younger woman.
Michael and Claire bond over their mutual plight, the bitterness of being dumped, of having to navigate the single life again when they were assured they were done. These are the times when uncoupled it feels like it goes a little further than the superficial shenanigans of privileged, brassy New Yorkers.
And Harris is able to bring some gravitas to an effort that could have been much shallower in different hands. He is, as always, very watchable.
uncoupled it wouldn’t be Darren Star’s escape, that’s for sure Sex and the city vibes, if he was really truthful about having left suddenly. If you want to swim in those murky waters of angst, there is always some Scenes from a marriage.
Uncoupled is on Netflix from Friday 29 July
Read related topics: Netflix