That this is painted by some of the suspiciously higher ratings as a black comedy strikes me as a stretch. I guess such opinions are from those types who would argue that a tomatoe is a fruit or that a blank canvas is art until you eventually throw them out of a moving car and provide them with the very demise they would call comedy, apparently.
This show isn't a comedy because the comedic moments are so very few and far between that they get drowned out by the abject grim depression that the writer seems to think would add to this effort at deadpan humour. It seems as if it's trying to be similar to a well known deadpan comedy about a grieving man, but the balance is way off and it doesn't work.
James Cordon has good and bad moments, his better ones when he's remembered that he doesn't need to shout-speak and perhaps he's spent too long on his talkshow being loud and shouty. I'm neither a fan nor a hater of his and did like him in Gavin & Stacy, The History Boys and his sketch with George Michael. Problem is he's exactly the same here. If that's what they call acting, being the same in everything, then perhaps that's the problem.
The story is essentially that he discovers his wife is a three time cheating slapper but doesn't confront her. There's where the story becomes silly and stupid. He just follows her and her lovers, discovering one after the other. He breaks into one of their apartments to confront the man but can't confront his own wife. So, the plot mechanisms are naff and contrived.
One funny aspect of this British drama is it casts the cheating wife as French, which struck me as a tired stereotype, as if the British don't take lovers. They prefer car parks near where dogs are walked.
All in all, it's silly, drawn out, boring and mediocre.
This show isn't a comedy because the comedic moments are so very few and far between that they get drowned out by the abject grim depression that the writer seems to think would add to this effort at deadpan humour. It seems as if it's trying to be similar to a well known deadpan comedy about a grieving man, but the balance is way off and it doesn't work.
James Cordon has good and bad moments, his better ones when he's remembered that he doesn't need to shout-speak and perhaps he's spent too long on his talkshow being loud and shouty. I'm neither a fan nor a hater of his and did like him in Gavin & Stacy, The History Boys and his sketch with George Michael. Problem is he's exactly the same here. If that's what they call acting, being the same in everything, then perhaps that's the problem.
The story is essentially that he discovers his wife is a three time cheating slapper but doesn't confront her. There's where the story becomes silly and stupid. He just follows her and her lovers, discovering one after the other. He breaks into one of their apartments to confront the man but can't confront his own wife. So, the plot mechanisms are naff and contrived.
One funny aspect of this British drama is it casts the cheating wife as French, which struck me as a tired stereotype, as if the British don't take lovers. They prefer car parks near where dogs are walked.
All in all, it's silly, drawn out, boring and mediocre.