Streaming on: Netflix
Episodes viewed: 10 of 10
With new Netflix romcom series Nobody Wants This, fans of Noughties teen drama experience a nostalgia-inducing combination, as The OC’s Seth Cohen (Adam Brody) and the voice of Gossip Girl (Kristen Bell) play an unlikely couple with a lot to overcome.
Bell is Joanne, a serial dater, child of divorce and mega oversharer on the sex and relationships podcast she does with her sister, Morgan (Justine Lupe). Brody is Noah, a devoted rabbi going through a recent, intense break-up with the kind of Jewish woman his family expected him to settle down with. He and Joanne meet at a dinner party and sparks fly instantly — despite Joanne assuming the rabbi in the room was someone else — but they quickly realise there are a lot of things in the way. Joanne has a tricky dynamic with her parents that she’s internalised as insecurities and avoidant attachment; Noah’s job and familial ties could be at risk if he dates someone who isn’t Jewish. They each have to figure out how much they’re willing to give up for the other, without losing themselves along the way.
Kristen Bell and Adam Brody's magnetism is Nobody Wants This’ biggest strength.
The lead pair both ooze charm from the get-go, and their magnetism is Nobody Wants This’ biggest strength, especially in the sometimes-cheesy, more contrived first couple of episodes. But it does eventually settle into its groove, and organically builds your investment in the central characters as well as developing the supporting ones. Justine Lupe, who brought such excellent deadpan comedy to Succession as Connor Roy’s long-suffering partner Willa, is great as the slightly unbearable but ultimately great sister Morgan; and Timothy Simons, who plays Noah’s brother Sasha, evolves from a nightmarish, lumbering douchebag to a silly-but-sweet dad.
Based loosely on creator Erin Foster’s real-life experience of converting to Judaism to marry her now-husband, you can feel the show straining itself to manufacture conflict between Joanne, Noah and their families at times, but overall the obstacles they come across feel rooted in genuine modern relationship issues and always strive to be resolved in an emotionally healthy way. Noah is dreamy and resoundingly there for Joanne without falling into a kind of ‘white knight’ trope, and she is headstrong and complicated without coming across as a ‘hot mess’. Plus, this show knows how to construct instantly iconic romcom sequences and speeches — that first kiss, the conversation in the sports coat, the cliffhanger ending. Here’s hoping we get to see how the story continues.