Irreverent ★★★½
Netflix
There’s a great deal of (far) Northern Exposure in this true-to-its-title crime comedy about a Chicago criminal hiding behind a reverend’s collar in tropical Queensland. It’s a familiar fish-out-of-water scenario, complete with confusion over miles and kilometres and the first shocking taste of Vegemite, that in this instance comes with illicit activities and the threat of the outside world upsetting beach life in paradise. It’s droll and endearing, a suspected case of breaking good.
Colin Donnell in IrreverentCredit:Julian Panetta/Netflix
Bloody circumstances have mob fixer Paulo Keegan (Colin Donnell) jumping a plane to Australia, but along the way he encounters Reverend Mackenzie Boyd (P.J. Byrne), a priest having a crisis of faith. Mackenzie takes Paulo’s loot, and Paulo has to take Mackenzie’s identity, including his assignment to the village parish of Clump. Barely connected to the digital realm, it’s like “1982” according to Paulo, who can lay low but has to figure out how to hold a Sunday service.
Created by Paddy Macrae, with SeaChange co-creator Andrew Knight as a prominent collaborator, Irreverent is an eccentric vision of rural Australia for an international audience. Clump is a successor to Porpoise Spit from Muriel’s Wedding, where the locals bamboozle Paulo, who is perpetually exasperated, and literally shoot first and make tea later. Even the local crime clan are mostly talk, merely smuggling “chop-chop” tobacco. The first time Paulo gets into a scrap it happens off screen and is seen through the bug-eyed reaction of locals.
It’s merely a matter of time until the locals get under the loner’s skin. Prime candidates include wise-to-the-con teenager Daisy (Tegan Stimson), church council president Peter (Wayne Blair, letting his knee-high socks ring true), and town cop Piper (Kylie Bracknell). Chicago Med star Donnell is an effective foil for the Australian ensemble, making Paulo’s machinations and his unintentional embrace of pastoral care an entertaining struggle instead of a fait accompli. Does he pull off a eulogy? Of course he does.
The local rituals and unexpected blow-ins move along a plot that favours the charming over the conniving. The underlying question is how far Paulo can push his priesthood without upsetting his unorthodox relationship with Clump? Irreverent doesn’t want to resolve too much, lest it sacrifice the wry tenterhooks the show hangs on. I’m not sure how long it can stay in motion, but for this debut season it’s an enjoyable screwball comedy update in the cane fields, where some like it really hot.
Stuck ★★★★
SBS on Demand
Morgana Robinson and Dylan Moran in StuckCredit:
Written by Black Books′ Dylan Moran, who along with fellow comic Morgana Robinson plays the couple at its centre, Stuck is a bittersweet and occasionally bilious dissection of a relationship just starting to find its stress points. “What is your answer for this,” Robinson’s Carla demands of Moran’s Dan, but the two are worried about asking the relevant questions. They’re not sure if they’re supporting each other or being dragged down.
Told across five episodes that barely add up to 70 minutes of sardonic viewing, this British sitcom is a study in intimacy. Every episode begins with the couple lying in bed, wary of getting vertical and involved. Their exchanges are circuitous and probing, but also blessed with a private vernacular and moody retorts. Even with their age difference – Carla’s younger, with more goals – they sound completely intertwined.
Dan loses his job as an advertising copywriter and Carla’s ex, Maya (Eleanor Fanyinka), reappears, but this concise anti-romantic comedy prefers to use outside events as a lens to study the duo’s relationship. The dialogue is bespoke and biting.“You’re looking at me like a crime scene,” Dan laments at one point. That makes sense: beneath the banter, this unhurried comedy is forensic.
Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
Disney+
Chris Pratt in Guardians of the GalaxyCredit:Disney
Made with goofy humour and some occasionally wonky digital effects, this Yuletide intermission is a knowing addendum to Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. With the writer/director of both movies, James Gunn, in charge, this is primarily an aliens visit California comedy (see Star Trek IV) as Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) travel here to retrieve a famous actor (who cheerfully plays along) to serve as a Christmas present for their human buddy, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt). As the exploitation of blockbuster power goes, it’s agreeably amusing.
The Flatshare
Paramount+
Jessica Brown Findlay and Anthony Welsh in The FlatshareCredit:
Communicating by Post-it notes sounds like a passive-aggressive triumph, but it makes for an implausibly gooey hook in this British romantic comedy about the two participants in a time-share deal for a London bedroom who naturally become attracted to each other. Magazine staffer Tiffany (Jessica Brown Findlay) has the bed from 8pm to 8am, while palliative care nurse Leon (Anthony Welsh) gets 8am to 8pm. It’s daft, but enjoyable if you’re willing to surrender to the genre’s cliches and charismatic lead performances that are in on the joke.
Branson
Binge
Richard BransonCredit:
Richard Branson is not easily summarised, but this four-part HBO documentary does a good job of at least contrasting his numerous sides: hard-nosed businessman, celebrity, environmental activist, and philanthropist. With impeccable archival footage, stretching back to Branson as teenage entrepreneur in late 1960s Britain, director Chris Smith (Bad Vegan) captures the perpetual motion of the 72-year-old’s life, complete with interviews in the days prior to his visit to outer space to launch Virgin Galactic. Branson is careful in his self-analysis, but the series has the necessary rigour to at least make him pause.
Ally McBeal
Disney+
All five seasons of David E Kelley’s wildly quirky romantic comedy set at a Boston law firm are now available for reappraisal on Disney+, bringing back memories of Calista Flockhart’s diminutive, exuberantly awkward lawyer and the show’s many late 1990s totems: the dancing baby, the unisex bathrooms, and the suggestive peccadillos. It feels in part like a precursor to many subsequent dramedies, and the casting is bang on, from a pre-30 Rock Jane Krakowski as an indiscreet secretary to Robert Downey Jr’s terrific fourth season as Ally’s love interest.
Ally McBeal: Dancing babies and unisex bathrooms ares backCredit:
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