Jennifer Coolidge, Bobby Cannavale, Naomi Watts, and Mia Farrow are phenomenal in Netflix’s latest true-crime series. But nothing can save this from being totally forgettable.
You Have To Admit That This Is Murphy’s Automatic Slam Dunk.
A true story that reads like a wavy horror novel. He must have waited for this all his life. Forget the story was already made into a movie, 2016 Lifetime Movie Watchers (“Overall, not a bad movie to kill time on a Sunday afternoon,” Murphy overwrote.
Imagine if Anna Delvey dabbled in cannibalism or if the people of WeCrashed were secret werewolves. That’s the level of synergy we’re talking about here.
As you can imagine, the new Netflix series The Watcher is a mighty Murphy watch. He co-created the show, co-wrote all but one episode, and even had time to direct a few. If you like his show, you will love it. otherwise?
This Is At Least Better Than Jeffrey Dahmer.
I would place this somewhere in the upper midrange of his work. The sly impression that Murphy and his collaborators know how goofy the source material is is all around.
It doesn’t quite transition into parody, but it does (intentionally hope) have moments where it touches on Mel Brooks. This is the kind of show that really wants you to know that there could be someone behind the dreaded letter campaign. What it accomplishes by turning the peripheral cast into a parade of goofy caricatures.
Recommended:When and Where Can You Watch The Watcher?
Weird Neighbors Dressed Alike? A Collection Of Local Historians Who, After Decades Of Surgical Negligence, Look Like Subjects of American Gothic Style.
What’s even more surprising is that the Broaddus house is by no means a glamorous property. From the outside, it looks like Tony Soprano’s McMansion, but inside it’s got secret rooms, hidden tunnels, a piano that looks like it’s playing itself, and what can only be described as Chekhov’s silly waiters.
About The Cast
It’s full… any sane family would have less than a microsecond before they get hit and run away. advertisement At least the cast is completely insane. The Broaddus family consists of Bobby Cannavale, Naomi Watts, and their photogenic young children.
Neighbors are played by Margot Martindale, Richard Kind, and Mia Farrow. Noma Dumezweni is a private detective. Jennifer Coolidge is a real estate agent. And everyone, without exception, gets a chance to do their best. Farrow is haunted and creepy, Watts is meek and delusional, and Coolidge seems to have inadvertently prepared a series unlike any other.
More than anything, it’s this cast that holds the watchers together. But actually, you can see why Lifetime jumped at the hype in the first place. Stripping away some of the prodigious acting talents and some of the more outlandish decisions to bring the source material to life, what’s left is a seven-hour typewriter crime thriller is expanded to The Watcher is a world away from the bold, groundbreaking originals that Netflix has seemingly tried to pull out of thin air.
Sometimes there’s the unfortunate vibe of an ITV drama playing unattended on a TV on top of a budget gym’s treadmill. Murphy is paid big money, so there’s no doubt it’s going to be huge, but there’s very little behind it. If anyone remembers this from Christmas, I’d be surprised.
Recommended: The true story behind Netflix’s The Watcher: Here’s what really happened (and what didn’t)
The Episode Review
Why are these people acting this way? Unless the subject was science fiction, I doubt anyone has ever seen a crazier group on screen. The real crime in The Watcher, a true crime thriller, is that we don’t get to see more of Jennifer Coolidge. Perhaps the wonderful Jennifer Coolidge won’t be as chirpy and silly as usual. She is as clear-cut as an arrow when it comes to deciding what she wants and then pursuing it. Karen will undoubtedly play a significant role moving forward. If she is involved in the effort to kick the Brannocks out of the residence is still a mystery to us.