A raunchy Peacock rom-com series about a woman whose sex life proves to be a real killer and a tense holiday-time thriller about a TSA agent tangling with a mysterious caller and suspicious luggage serve up laughs and thrills, in that order.
Here’s our roundup.
“Laid”: Single-for-a-reason Ruby (Stephanie Hsu) makes a shocking discovery about her sex life that could kill any chance of her finding a soulmate. Seems all of her former lovers are dying off, in sequential to order. The edgy premise, re-principled from an Australian series of the same title, gets an enthusiastic, raucous workout in Peacock’s rom-com-esque eight-episode original series that you can’t help but fall for. Yes, it has a rough spots (a bit involving Hsu singing in a car goes on way too long) but it rights itself every time because of the comedic and dramatic chops of Hsu and others in this talented cast. The “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Oscar nominee somehow makes the stridently self-absorbed chatterbox Ruby endearing, even when her inconsiderate actions get annoying. She and literal-minded bestie AJ (Zosia Mamet, her perfect foil) scurry about trying to contact former lovers as well as figure out how to prevent more deaths from occurring, even for the guys whose hookups have should never happened. Further complicating matters is Ruby’s dreamy new client Isaac (Tommy Martinez, bringing all the charisma the role requires) as well as a guy who irritates her from her past, Richie (Michael Angarano). Executive producers Nahnatchka Khan (“Fresh Off the Boat”) and Sally Bradford McKenna (“Will & Grace”) have given us a welcome reason to smile and laugh — sometimes uncontrollably, sometimes uncomfortably, and oftentimes all too knowingly. Just get “Laid”; trust me, you’ll enjoy it. Details: 3 stars out of 4; all episodes drop Dec. 19.
“Carry-On”: A last-minute shift change lands stuck-in-a-rut hunky TSA agent Ethan Kopek (Taron Egerton) onto the security checkpoint scanning line during the often-rude holiday rush, a move that disrupts and puts a huge snag in devious plans to smuggle a suspicious carry-on bag onto a plane. What’s inside said bag and who’s behind all of this and is now threatening to kill Ethan’s girlfriend (Sofia Carson) are the big question marks. Each fire up Ethan’s nascent police skills in director Jaume Collet-Serra’s preposterous but oh-so-fun guilty pleasure. Three are four reasons why “Carry-On” stays airborne: its undeniably gripping premise; its funny bits about obnoxious air travelers; the maniacal action sequences; and a procession of A-listers who are giving it their all. These include Jason Bateman as the enigmatic, deadly cell phone caller who directs Ethan to make his every move; Danielle Deadwyler as an L.A. police detective who smells a dirty rat; and, of course, Egerton — who knows how to bring the muscle to any project as well as a vulnerable likeability that can’t be denied. “Carry-On” aspires to being a new “Die Hard” for the holidays, but it’s not as first-class as that Bruce Willis classic, better suited to be in the comfy economy class. But it’s still one smooth and exciting flight. Details: 3 stars; now streaming on Netflix.
“Paris Has Fallen”: An unexpected streaming gift can be found over on Hulu where the latest entry in the “Has Fallen” film franchise (2013’s “Olympus Has Fallen,” 2016’s “London Has Fallen” and 2019’s “Angel Has Fallen”) takes the form of a crackling good eight-episode series set in the City of Light. Fans, though, should grid themselves to say au revoir to series regulars Gerard Butler and Morgan Freeman and say bonjour to incoming stars Tewfik Jallab and Ritu Arya. I’ve gotten through four episodes and it does get sillier as it progresses, but it also gets more aggressively entertaining as it goes along. There are numerous chases and stunts, a flavoring of sexual tension, outlandish secret relationship reveals and best of all a magnificent villain – former French Foreign Legion member Jacob Pearce, played to the I’m-gonna-wipe-you-all-out hilt by Sean Harris. What fuels his fury adds extra dramatic texture to the vengeance-fueled proceedings while Jallab – portraying security cop Vincent Taleb – and Arya – playing shrewd and assured MI6 agent Zara Taylor – make a great team and can banter with the best of them. Creator Howard Overman understands that an action film can’t stand on the merits of its thrills alone and needs interesting characters to make it all that more involving. Details: 3 stars; available now on Hulu.
“No Good Deed”: Anyone from the Golden State realizes too well that the California real estate market crushes dreams, occasionally relationships. Three Los Angeles families get a bad taste of that as they try to outwit and outmaneuver each other so one could become owners of a swanky ‘20s-era villa in a very, very “nice” neighborhood. But the potential sellers (played by Ray Romano and Lisa Kudrow) are peculiar and coping with prolonged grief along with divided opinions about the property itself, including whether to offload it. Created by the ever-crafty Liz Feldman — who gave us the superior, more surefooted “Dead to Me” with Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini – Netflix’s eight-episode black comedy series doesn’t grab you with the audaciousness of “Dead to Me” and it doesn’t always realize the full potential of its characters, but does it ever have one killer cast and an intriguing premise that takes a good twist near the end. Romano and especially Kudrow are given a chance to show their dramatic chops as the Morgans, but the clear standout is Cardellini, a flashy and vain social climber married to sad-sack soap opera star JD Campbell (Luke Wilson). She gives the series its spark. The rest of the cast (Teyonah Parris, O-T Fagbenle, Abbi Jacobson and Poppy Liu as the coupes vying for the property), including Linda Lavin as a nosy neighbor you only wish would have gotten more scenes prop up a series that would have been better condensed to six episodes. “No Good Deed” left me wanting to see more home improvements get made on the scripts, punching them up some more to meet the talents of the cast. Details: 2½ stars; available on Netflix.
“You Are Not Me”: Lesbian married couple Aitana (Roser Tapias) and Gabi (Yapoena Silva) and their adopted baby son travel from Brazil to Spain to visit Aitana’s well-to-do parents and her brother during Christmastime. Aitana hasn’t visited for three years and she wants to “surprise” her parents by arriving a few days early. They receive an icy reception and then watch Nadia (Anna Kurikka), a Romanian refugee that the family fawns over, takes her place at that table and is now the object of effusive parental affection. Directors/screenwriters Marisa Crespo and Moisés Romera flavor their you-can’t-go-home-again premise with shocking horror story/social commentary that metes out the reveals patiently and then lets the bloodshed flow in its final act. It’s an impressive piece of genre filmmaking that is disturbing and multi-layered. Details: 3 stars; available to rent now.
“Dirty Angels”: The engaging presence of French actress Eva Green in a film is certain to enliven it and make it worth the watch. But even her go-for-broke acting style can’t rescue Martin Campbell’s pathetic dim-bulb of a feminist ISIS thriller that throws way too many elements into its broken-down blender. “Dirty Angels” pivots on a group of ISIS members storming a school in Afghanistan and holding teen girls hostage in another location. A secret commando operation gets deployed to recuse them (one girl has ties to a prominent family) and is made of a team of female characters that never get fleshed out. Leading the charge is gruff Marine Jake (Green) and she wants a bloody pound of flesh of her own for a past massacre that took down her former comrades in 2021. Shot on the cheap (even the rubble fails to look convincing), this erratically plotted and scripted one off is not only a far cry from Campbell’s action heyday of “Casino Royale” but never capitalizes on anything nor anybody, not only Green but costars Maria Bakalova and Ruby Rose. Details: 1 star; available now for rental.
“Scrap”: Meet Beth (Vivian Kerr), a single Los Angeles mom who’s lying about her job status once she gets laid off and can’t land another gig. She’s living in her car while her daughter stays with her put-upon brother Ben (Anthony Rapp), a best-selling author stuck in a creative rut, and his wife Stacy (Lana Parrilla), a powerhouse attorney. Kerr’s first feature could have used some tightening up, but it brings to light the plight of someone who is living in crisis mode and approaches that relatable topic not with cynicism but hope. Details: 2½ stars; available to rent now.
Contact Randy Myers at sotisrandy@gmail.com.