Nora Ephron is the pope of romantic comedies, having created some of the greatest recent classics. So much so that she is quoted by Ted Lasso frequently and the argument for the series was suggested by Jason Sudeikis with the question ‘How would Norah Ephron make a romantic comedy about football?‘. One of the director’s best-known ‘rules’ comes from a script of hers, that of the film When Harry Met Sally in which the protagonists have a long friendship of over 30 years until they realize that they are soulmates. More specifically, Harry explains to Sally that friendship between a man and a woman is impossible because there will always be a sex equation between them, stripping away any genuine feelings of simple platonic love. And Platonic, the Apple TV Plus series with Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne, tries to debunk once again the argument of Harry Burns (Billy Crystal). Does it sustain?

The plot of the series is quite simple: Will (Seth Rogen) and Sylvia (Rose Byrne) were best friends in college, but they broke up when Sylvia objected to his girlfriend and reconnect years later when both go through a midlife crisis. Their friendship and bond destabilize their lives unexpectedly. Critics hated it.

Platonic is not deep and at least until more than halfway through the season has not (yet) put the two secretly in love. Still, it’s kind of bizarre that the dedicated (and frustrated) former lawyer, now stay-at-home mom of three like Sylvia was ever so intimate and companionable with someone as different from her as Will. Next to him, she is a completely different person and obviously causes jealousy in Charlie (Luke Macfarlane), the perfect husband. Now that Will, divorced, has a new girlfriend, it is Sylvia who will once again object, presumably putting to the test whether they are, or ever were, “just friends”.

Criticizing the series proposal puts to the test who enjoys romantic comedy or not because there is no doubt about the chemistry between Seth and Rose, who starred in the films Neighbors and Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising. Platonic‘s showrunner is – what a surprise – the screenwriter and director of both films, Nicholas Stoller. The ‘problem’ is that as many points out, more than contradicting When Harry Met Sally, the series is a reissue of Friends from College, which was canceled by Netflix after its second season, repeating a formula of putting experienced adults acting and thinking like inconsequential teenagers. Sylvia lives a drama that made more sense 30 years ago, that of a woman who gives up her career for her family and then ‘regrets it’ when considering going back to work. And Will is once again Seth playing a man who wants to have free time to enjoy life without committing to something bigger.

If you don’t like both, you won’t like Platonic. The inconsequential ‘antics’ of the two take up 90% of the plot, they cannot be taken seriously. Perhaps the main problem that puts it on the path of Friends from College is the fact that the central plot of the story could perhaps hold a film of an hour and a half, but it drags a little when it has 5 hours (there are ten episodes of thirty minutes). As we near the end of the first season, what’s bound to happen is that the series will put Sylvia’s true feelings about Will to the test, something Charlie rightly anticipated. The question will be: will Sylvia transfer her frustrations to something that connects her with her youth or will she take the reins of her adult life? And will we care? As a fan of romantic comedies, I’ll follow!

Search

Search