The Most Popular Netflix Series Is A Sweet Rom-Com No One Saw Coming
Romantic comedies (rom-coms) used to rule the theater, but today, only two have achieved any level of success: Anyone But You and No Hard Feelings, though success is relative, as the days of When Harry Met Sally or even 50 First Dates are long gone. That’s why it’s surprising that Netflix has found success with its new series, Nobody Wants This, about a non-religious podcaster falling in love with a Rabbi. Debuting as the top show on the streaming service, it’s proof that there’s an audience for this genre, but maybe, as with so many other genres, television is a better fit than a theatrical release.
Carried By Chemistry
Nobody Wants This stars Kristen Bell as Joanne, a sex-positive podcaster, and Adam Brody as Noah, a Rabbi. They meet at a mutual friend’s party, and the sparks fly immediately, much to the chagrin of Noah’s family. Like any good rom-com, there’s a series of incidents in every episode, but the real reason to keep watching is the chemistry between the leads.
Bell and Brody sizzle together, from their playful banter to their first kiss. Comedic timing and quick wit are expected from Bell, who showed how good she can be on The Good Place, but Brody, who you might remember from his first major role on The O.C., is a revelation as the lowkey people-pleasing Rabbi trying to keep his life together. Even when the standard rom-com trope of trying to hide a partner from friends and family while on vacation is invoked, Brody keeps it fresh and, best of all, funny.
The Scene-Stealing Sidekicks
Beyond the two leads, Nobody Wants This includes Veep’s Timothy Simons as Noah’s brother, Sasha, and Succession’s Justine Lupe as Joanne’s sister, Morgan, in a pair of scene-stealing roles. I’ll admit, in the first episode, I detested Sasha as he was the overbearing brother concerned with Noah spending time with a shiska (a non-Jewish woman; there’s a lot of Yiddish that is helpfully explained by the characters). But by the time the end credits rolled, he was my favorite character, and the friendship he develops with Morgan is an absolute joy.
Two Worlds Collide
As happens in every sitcom or rom-com about two people coming together from different worlds, the culture clash drives most of the plot, and it’s no different with Nobody Wants This. Noah’s Jewish family has a hard time dealing with Joanne, especially his overbearing mother, Bina, played by The Walking Dead’s Tovah Feldshuh, and his sister-in-law, Esther, GLOW’s Jackie Tohn. Their petty passive-aggressiveness is counterbalanced by Noah’s dad, Ilan, played in a complete deadpan performance by Paul Ben-Victor from In Plain Sight.
The Back Half Starts To Drag
Nobody Wants This starts to run out of gas in the back third of the 10-episode first season. The trope of misunderstanding someone and deciding to avoid them/break things off/pout is here in full force, but thankfully, it doesn’t undermine the amazing chemistry of Kristen Bell and Adam Brody. If this were a movie instead of a series, it wouldn’t be nearly as charming, and the forced drama would overshadow the reason everyone loves rom-coms in the first place, but as a series, every sequence has time to breathe, so even the stumbles aren’t as bad as they would be otherwise.
The Best Rom-Com In Years
REVIEW SCORE
I had no idea what to expect from Nobody Wants This when a friend suggested it to me, but it exceeded my expectations. Between the playfulness of Bell and Brody and the scene-stealing of Simons and Lupe as the sibling side-kicks, every episode had at least one or two great moments, clearing the low-bar for a 2024 rom-com. The series is now streaming on Netflix, and there’s been no word yet on a second season, but here’s hoping we get more of this relationship.
