Jason Reitman’s cynical streak, which originated in Thank You for Smoking and was perfected in Young Adult, fell by the wayside in 2013’s misjudged melodrama Labor Day, which replaced wit with wet. While Reitman tried to regain his signature snark with last year’s Men, Women and Children, it only served to further a losing streak that extended a shadow on his previous successes.
Like many of his peers, he’s making the move to the small screen, the laptop to be precise, for a new sitcom which showed off its first two episodes as part of the Toronto film festival’s new inclusion of TV premieres. Casual, which is made for the US streaming platform Hulu, starts with a very smart piece of casting. It’s centred around Michaela Watkins, who belongs in that uniquely frustrating category of female comic actors who are sorely underused, alongside Kathryn Hahn and Judy Greer. Watkins, who was unfairly dumped from Saturday Night Live, has been relegated to small roles, in everything from TV’s Veep and New Girl to big screen turns in Afternoon Delight and Enough Said.
But, despite her lack of screen time, she’s always managed to emerge as a scene-stealer. Reitman casting her in the lead role of his show is therefore a doozy, allowing us to finally spend a far more satisfying time with her. She stars as Valerie, one month out of a marriage which saw her husband cheat on her, who is now living with her brother, and best friend, Alex as well as her teenage daughter Laura. The overarching theme is how the three search for love, and mainly sex, in the modern era. Valerie is re-entering the singles world without a clue of what to do, Alex is the creator of a dating site which boasts an algorithm that he designed to set him up with whomever he wants and Laura is developing a crush on her teacher while having rampant sex with her boyfriend.
From the first scene, which sees the three main characters criticise attendees at a family funeral, it’s clear that Reitman has his bite back. The show, created by Zander Lehmann, has a strong misanthropic streak as the characters make snippy asides (on a date, Valerie complains “His favourite movie is Underworld”) and ruthlessly judge others. In that way, it’s somewhat reminiscent of Hulu’s other new original comedy Difficult People. It also shares similarities, with its extended family under one roof set-up, with Mark Duplass’s HBO show Togetherness. Oh and its awkward dating scenes recall Stephen Merchant’s Hello Ladies.
And it’s this which becomes a slight problem. Casual is an undeniably entertaining show. Watkins is a likeable lead and there’s a smattering of smart lines (“Going to the gym gives me PTSD”) but, given the growing number of equally funny and indie-filtered comedies both on TV and online, it needs more to stand out from the crowd. There are flashes, in the first two episodes that were shown, of something different.
As a character, Valerie begins as a refreshing antithesis to the overbearing mother trope we see often see in sitcoms. She has a sexually liberated view on her daughter’s lifestyle, boasting that she has had her on the pill since the age of 12 and still buys her condoms. But what’s somewhat disheartening is that by the end of the second episode she’s in a more familiar place of being the uptight regulator, as her brother and daughter both need bailing out of trouble. What we’ve seen of Alex suggests a familiar mixture of slacker and womaniser which is nothing new but Laura’s openness is an interesting addition, given the relative lack of female characters who enjoy sex without judgement.
Casual suggests that, with a focus on the less familiar elements of the plot, it could become an online staple. If nothing else, it steers Reitman back on the right direction. Which is a happy ending in itself.
