When “Bridgerton” debuted in December, 2020, the Regency-era costume drama quickly became one of Netflix’s most popular shows, reaching 82 million households. Admittedly, its second season lacks the sexy spice of the first, focusing on far less interesting characters. Nevertheless, its “Gossip Girl”-meets-“Downton Abbey” concept is addictive for binging.
Reimagining 19th century England, it once again focuses on aristocratic families seeking favor from Black royalty. “We were two separate societies, divided by color, until King George III fell in love with one of us,” all-knowing Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh) explains.
The sizzling first season followed Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) and the Duke of Hastings, Simon Basset (Rege-Jean Page); they’re now married. So the focus is on Daphne’s eldest brother, rakish, stubborn Viscount Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey), who feels compelled to find a suitable wife.
Enter proper, placid, polite Edwina Sharma (Charithra Chandran), newly arrived from Bombay, along with her headstrong older half-sister Kathani (Simone Ashley). In the 1800s, India was a British colony with thousands of transients settling in London. But Edwina and Kate’s mother was rejected by her aristocratic British parents when she chose to marry the girls’ father, a lower-class Indian clerk.
There’s also a crisis in the not-so-prosperous Featherington family, marked by the arrival of Cousin Jack (Rupert Young). Meanwhile, the close friendship between eavesdropping wallflower Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and intellectual, inquisitive Eloise Bridgerton (Claudia Jessie) is in danger of rupturing.
All this is chronicled by the cunning, scandal-mongering gossiper Lady Whistledown (voiced by Julie Andrews), a constant irritant to scheming, snuff-sniffing Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel), who will soon get her own prequel series, according to executive producer Shonda Rhimes (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal”).
Based on Julia Quinn’s bodice-ripping, historical romance novels, the melodramatic storylines have been re-imagined by showrunner Chris Van Dusen, who details a multihued, multiethnic, colorful society, complete with extravagant, eye-catching costumes and bucolic beauty.
On the Granger Gauge, “Bridgerton: Season Two” is a slow-simmering 7 – with the streaming Netflix series already renewed through Season Four.
Never has there been a more truthful title. In “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” the filmmakers adhere to the motto that too much is never enough.
Married for many years, demanding Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) and henpecked Waymond Wang (Ke Huy Quan), born and raised in China, own and operate a laundromat in California’s Simi Valley.
They’re currently coping with long-festering marital problems along with a threatening IRS tax audit at which surly Agent Deirdre Beaubeirdra (Jamie Lee Curtis) threatens to seize their business and personal assets.
Meanwhile, Evelyn’s judgmental father (James Hong) is visiting from China and their exasperated lesbian daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu) wants to bring her girlfriend Becky (Tallie Medel) to their Chinese New Year party.
In the midst of Evelyn’s angst, inexplicably transformed Waymond gives her a set of instructions to enter a chaotic, surreal multiverse, which details the many alternate lives she could have lived.
Instead of leaving China, for example, Evelyn could have become a glamorous kung fu action star – or a knife-wielding hibachi chef.
In further hyper-edited, verse-jumping flights of fancy, harried Evelyn and aggressive Deirdre become lovers, intertwining hotdog-like fingers, squirting mustard and ketchup. Or become boulders perched on a cliff, or pinatas dangling from a tree. In a parallel dimension, Joy becomes Evelyn’s anarchist adversary, Jobu Tupaki, touting the Everything Bagel.
Filmmakers Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert , best known for casting Daniel Radcliffe as a flatulent corpse in the absurdist “Swiss Army Man” (2016), bill themselves simply as the Daniels.
Working with cinematographer Larkin Seiple and production designer Jason Kisvarday, they’ve concocted this new, somewhat incoherent, mind-bending, sci-fi fantasy, pivoting around self-discovery and the existential parent/child bond.
The best parts involve Jamie Lee Curtis’ physical transformation into frumpy Deirdre and iconic Michelle Yeoh’s martial arts skill; stuntman Timothy Eulich coordinated the challenging wirework. But it’s like watching a deftly structured “Sliding Doors” concept become an action-packed, cacophonous “Cloud Atlas.”
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” is a fragmented, frenetic 5, playing in theaters.
In making “Deep Water,” director Adrian Lyne built his reputation on kinky, erotic thrillers like “9 ½ Weeks,” “Fatal Attraction,” “Indcent Proposal,” and “Unfaithful.” So it’s not surprising that he capitalized on the off-camera romance between Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas to take advantage of their sexual chemistry in this sizzler.
Problem is: as a psychosexual whodunit, the perverse plot makes no sense whatsoever.
Flamboyant Melinda (Ana de Armas) must be a nymphomaniac because she devotes most of her waking hours to promiscuous seduction – lasciviously taunting and teasing her husband, wealthy tech whiz Vic Van Allen, (Ben Affleck), or a series of hapless lovers.
Wherever sultry Melinda goes, she’s on the prowl for her next paramour. One of her recent conquests, Malcolm McRae, has gone missing. Vic claims to have killed him. That shocks but doesn’t discourage Melinda’s suitors, Joel (Brendan C. Miller), Charlie (Jacob Elordi) or Tony (Finn Wittrock).
Meanwhile, Vic takes long rides on his mountain bike, tends his collection of slimy, intertwining snails, and looks after their precocious young daughter Trixie (Grace Jenkins). Although his buddy (Lil Rel Howery) warns him that Melinda’s brazen behavior is out of control, emasculated Vic seems so complacent that he’s barely conscious.
“What if your concerns aren’t my concerns?” Vic counters.
But then a skeptical local writer Don Wilson (Tracy Letts) becomes a bit too suspicious.
Based on Patricia Highsmith’s 1957 novel, it was previously filmed as a 1981 French version “Eaux Profodes” with Isabelle Huppert and Jean-Louis Trintignant. This sluggish adaptation by Zach Helm (“Stranger Than Fiction”) and Sam Levinson (“Euphoria”) strips away all devious subtlety and emotional complexity.
When Disney acquired 20th Century Fox (as it was called then), there was no way this New Regency film could be released under the Disney banner, so it was dumped on Hulu. Ben Affleck was much better in “Duel” & “The Tender Bar,” as was Ana de Armas in “Knives Out” & “No Time to Die.”
On the Granger Gauge, “Deep Water” sinks to a dreadful 3, streaming on Hulu.
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