The Most Offensive Netflix Original Series Is Secretly Brilliant
Ever avoid checking out a cartoon because of its reputation? I’ve been guilty of this, especially when a series looks ugly and sounds more than a little bit insane. For the longest time, that’s why I dismissed the Netflix original series Big Mouth, but once I checked it out, I had to reluctantly admit that this was a brilliant series full of hilarious writing and wonderful performances.
A Bizarre Coming-Of-Age Sitcom
What is Big Mouth about, exactly? It’s described as a coming-of-age sitcom, one whose characters go through many typically teenage trials and tribulations such as puberty. That may sound like plenty of sitcom series, but two things instantly set Big Mouth apart: the grotesque designs and extraordinarily crude humor involving underage characters.
The Writing Overcomes The Designs
Full confession: I was already prepared to never watch this show because of those designs…and in addition to my instant revulsion at the animation style, I couldn’t imagine ever laughing at anything coming out of these glassy-eyed characters (ahem) big mouths. The more I heard about the show’s humor, the less I was inclined to watch it. “Why,” I thought to myself, “would I want to watch a freaky comedy involving adolescents, especially when it looks so insanely weird?”
However, the Netflix algorithm kept pushing Big Mouth on me, and I eventually caved in and checked it out. To put it mildly, I was pleasantly surprised: while the animation still looked very ugly to me, I discovered that the humor wasn’t prurient in nature. Rather, the whole show serves as an ongoing dramatization of just how awful puberty can be, with things like hormones transformed into literal monsters that drive our characters to do some fairly crazy things.
Award-Winning Cast
On the topic of the characters, Big Mouth has a very talented cast that includes series co-creator Nick Kroll, voicing Nick Birch, his Hormone Monster, Coach Steve, and many more characters. The comedian John Mulaney voices Nick’s best friend, Andrew Glouberman, and Fred Armisen voices Nick’s dad. The cast also includes Jordan Peele as the Ghost of Duke Ellington and Maya Rudolph as Connie, the Hormone Monstress (incidentally, her line delivery of “Chewbacca sound!” lives in my head rent-free).
Speaking of Rudolph, her performance has helped Big Mouth earn three of its four Primetime Emmys. Those are just a few of the awards the show has won, and it has been nominated for far more. Given those awards, you probably won’t be surprised to learn that the show is a real critical darling.
Crude Jokes With Purpose
On Rotten Tomatoes, Big Mouth has a critical score of 94 percent. Critics generally praised the show’s brutal honesty about what dealing with puberty is like, and it shone a spotlight on this issue for female and male characters. Many reviewers noted that the show’s gross-out humor isn’t for all audiences, but those crude jokes are always in service of telling stories that have a surprising amount of earnestness and heart.
Available Only On Netflix
REVIEW SCORE
Collectively, these were the qualities that impressed me as well: I worried that Big Mouth would be a weird pervert show at worst or a collection of stale fart gags at best. What I found, though, was a Netflix show that transformed the trauma of growing up into a series of over-the-top rituals that we can all laugh at. The series has genuine things to say about puberty, love, and friendship, and watching it can be downright therapeutic to anyone whose own adolescence was less than perfect.
Will you find Big Mouth as secretly brilliant as I did, or will you think this show is just a gross waste of time? The only way to find out is to watch it. Just be warned: whether you love it or hate it, you’re probably going to be quoting the Hormone Monster and Monstress way more than anyone in your life was expecting.
