Your Friends & Neighbors, an Apple TV+ series, is the latest show to poke scathing barbs at high society. It is also the most successful, because to Jon Hamm's brilliant and engaging performance. With Hamm's unwavering devotion to becoming a villain and creator/showrunner Jonathan Tropper's narrative sense, Your Friends & Neighbors is audaciously amusing and not for the faint of heart.
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| Your Friends and Neighbors Review The Apple TV Show Is Jon Hamm at His Biting Finest. |
Your Friends & Neighbors focuses on the affluent Westmont Village enclave, which Hamm's character Andrew "Coop" Cooper is abruptly ejected out of when things go wrong in his life. Financially desperate and personally enraged, Coop tries to solve his issues at the price of his friends. The show provides Hamm as much, if not more, to chew on than Mad Men, with a well-known cast sparring with him as everything spirals out of hand.
Your Friends and Neighbors Is Jon Hamm at His Hilarious Best
Your Friends & Neighbors is pretty much Jon Hamm's program; he not only appears on screen about 80% of the time, but he also performs the series' voice-over narration and is recognized as an executive producer. However, what could appear to be one actor's vanity effort succeeds because Hamm is superb as Andrew "Coop" Cooper, this generation's William Foster from Falling Down. However, rather than accidently blowing up a building site, Coop's technique of screaming against the system involves actively committing crimes. He's someone the spectator will both love and despise just like his family and friends do.
Hamm has been expanding into the comedy genre in recent years, with films like Tag and the animated series Grimsburg, but Your Friends & Neighbors appears to be the first project to fully harness his comedic abilities. Coop is rarely a quiet character, except when he is watching one of his favorite classic films. His second scene shows him launching into an unprompted monologue about age, relationships, and his divorce. He never fails to make a sharp remark, which is annoying because it's difficult to find someone he genuinely likes. But Hamm's replies are the most effective. Coop's wrath, astonishment, and, most crucially, insecurity are all visible on his face, making him funnier and more approachable to viewers.
To be fair, Coop has a lot to be unhappy about. About two years ago, he saw his wife of 18 years in bed with his closest friend, and the two are now living together in Coop's previous home. His high-powered profession as a hedge fund manager comes to a sudden halt, exacerbating his personal troubles because he is supporting his now ex-wife Mel and their two teenagers, Tori and Hunter. The first episode of Your Friends & Neighbors features Coop repeatedly getting kicked when he is down. However, audiences may understand why he does the horrible things he does, even though they know he is an idiot.
The cast of Your Friends & Neighbors makes its outlandish parts work.
Like NBC's Grosse Pointe Garden Society and, to a lesser extent, Apple TV+'s Surface, Your Friends & Neighbors is a reflection on how the rich and powerful are not as perfect as they appear. Almost all of the characters are from the affluent Westmont Village neighborhood, and many of them are first portrayed as archetypal one-percenters. However, the actors embrace their characters' inevitable fall, and it is their energy that keeps the drama going even when it reaches some roadblocks.
For example, actor Mark Tallman, who plays Coop's erstwhile best friend, gets the short end of the stick. Nick has little motive to be likable as he slept with Coop's wife and has now essentially replaced him. And it's cringe-worthy when Nick continues to treat Coop as if he were his best friend, even telling him that he wants them all to be happy. Tallman is able to make those scenes credible since the spectator can sense Nick's genuineness in his words. He isn't being condescending, as most new love interests are to ex-partners on television. He sincerely wants them to become friends again.
Amanda Peet and Olivia Munn co-star as Mel and Samantha "Sam" Levitt, Coop's ex-wife and the woman with whom he is having an affair, respectively. Mel and Coop's relationship is awkward and nasty, but Mel is Your Friends & Neighbors' closest thing to a voice of reason, and Peet has always been terrific at playing the classic "straight man" against a more boisterous character (see: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip). Munn's position as Sam is initially less defined, but as the series progresses, she gains depth and becomes a fan favorite.
Your Friends & Neighbors Is the Next Hit Apple TV+ Show
Apple TV+ has received a lot of attention for its original series, with the highly anticipated Severance recently completed Season 2, as well as the return of Surface and the debut of Dope Thief. But Your Friends and Neighbors should generate as much attention as Severance. Though advertised as a drama, the show contains a lot of comedy, some of it inadvertent and some not. This is thanks to the excellent writing of series creator Jonathan Tropper. Tropper was a novelist before co-creating the popular Cinemax show Banshee, which led to the creation of Warrior, and Your Friends & Neighbors is essentially a crime book with an A-list cast.
Tropper employs Coop's internal monologue as a framing device, both through narration and by having him divulge things at inopportune moments. His writing and Hamm's line delivery make Coop sound like he's straight out of a Raymond Chandler novel or one of his favorite films. Tropper, however, uses these sections of the script to demonstrate Coop's self-awareness and self-deprecation, establishing the tone for the entire series. While it has a jaded view of upper society, it is not malicious. The joke's on everyone.
Between that distinct feel and the charms of the actors, notably a wholly uninhibited Hamm, Your Friends & Neighbors is as eccentrically lovely as it wishes to be. Everyone will like this production, whether it's the Robin Hood-inspired theme, the performances, or the great writing. And, with Apple having already bought a second season, viewers can enjoy their time in Westmont Village knowing they won't be thrown out anytime soon.