Doll & Em (2013–2015) User Reviews

Character driven light comedy

[robertemerald · 7/10 · 5 June 2019]

HBO does this sort of thing really well. They take slightly unbalanced characters, exaggerate their challenges and flaws, and present a very honest version of reality. Enlightened comes to mind, particularly in the comparison to the lead in that show, whom is unaware to a large extent of how she is upsetting others. That formula is carried over here as well. Awkwardness and vulnerability around relationships and sex, such as in Insecure, is also here. It's not as funny as Silicon Valley, and is probably closer to Curb Your Enthusiasm, certainly will remind people of Extras, but it trundles along amiably, is a great insight into femininity, makes a great play of the Brits in LA, has many amusing situations, and, with its all-star cast, is certainly some sort of delightful.

You should never lend a friend money, but is it OK to make them your assistant?

[face-819-933726 · 7/10 · 18 February 2014]

Emily Mortimer, and Dolly West have created, and written this for the most part, and it is as white bread as you would expect that to be I'm afraid. There may be a group who feel an attachment for Dol, but everyone is coming to see Emily, and in that you will be rewarded. There are some good moments of Irony, and some almost real feeling moments that the two share, but for the most part it is like Emily is Ricky Gervais, and Dol is Karl Pilkington. Just me, but I think that they needed to go harder in that direction, instead they just make Dol the saddest most pathetic creature that is not even someone that most people will feel sorry for. If they want us to dislike her, they hit it, I just don't really think that they were aiming for that. There is an attempt to make you like Dol, even then. I Enjoyed seeing Dol get knocked down, that is the part that I don't like. I don't really recommend this to anyone, it just comes across as cruel to me. Life does like to tease us so.

Don't miss the brilliant second season of this HBO comedy

[The_late_Buddy_Ryan · 9/10 · 22 October 2015]

The 10-ep second season just ended, so it's a good time to be catching up; both seasons are still available on demand. S1 is quite entertaining: Em (a successful actress not unlike Emily Mortimer herself) invites her best friend, Doll, to come and work for her in LA after a devastating breakup, then finds herself being upstaged by Doll, who people (including Susan Sarandon and John Cusack, playing themselves) really seem to take to and who can cry on cue (a job skill Em's never mastered). Friendship gradually gives way to frenmity…

S2 is truly brilliant: Doll and Em, reconciled after a falling out, collaborate on a play, which, from what little we get to see, seems heavily influenced by Pinter and Ionesco. Mortimer and Dolly Wells, who really have been friends since childhood, have an amazing rapport; the best scenes involve their wary relationship with the two actresses they've engaged to play themselves, Olivia Wilde and Evan Rachel Wood.

Scatty Doll and conflicted Em are wonderful, complex characters, and the series reaches a level of subtlety and spontaneity that's rarely encountered in cable comedy; at its best, "Doll & Em" has the feel of really good live theater. Standout scenes, IMHO: a brief glimpse of what seems like an amazing production of "The Tempest" aboard a barge on a London canal (Doll plays Ariel), Em totally fails to have it all as she tries to carry on a bubbly phone interview while her young son's standing a few inches away yelling, "I want pizza!"

Lovely mix of comedy and drama

[adrian-90588 · 9/10 · 19 September 2020]

If you'd like a gentler version of Fleabag or I May DestroyYou.

Doll & Em

[filmtvandlife · 5/10 · 3 June 2015]

Doll and Em starts out very slow with subtle humor but the joke is a season long one that you have to stay tuned for as it builds on itself.

I found this method of joke telling to be very unique, surprising and hilarious. There are probably similar series out there with the same way of telling jokes but I haven't seen them.

Towards the end of the season I was laughing so hard as all the chips fell into place. The girls dry wit astonished me , I didn't think either of them had it in them to be so funny.

I have tuned in for a second season, to me this show is definitely worth watching and I hope that the second season doesn't disappoint.

The addition of Mikhail Baryshnikov was definitely a surprise, seemingly out of left field, although he has appeared on a HBO series in the past. It was good to see him again.

Keep it up ladies, if there weren't brave ladies who put themselves out there and acted silly in public, it would be a very boring world indeed.