'How I Met Your Father' Review: Not too funny, but Hilary Duff's dramedy has heart
Contains spoilers for 'How I Met Your Father' Episodes 1 and 2
At a runtime of just a couple of minutes over 20, Hulu's spinoff of one of the most-adored dramedy, 'How I Met Your Mother' is part funny and part cringe. 'How I Met Your Father ' does enough to impress, but could definitely be a lot better. Set in 2050 that sees Kim Cattrall's Sophie tell her son the comical and bittersweet events that led to her meeting her husband, the show toggles between the future and the events set in 2022. The latter sees a young Sophie (played to perfection by Hilary Duff) and her pals navigate life in New York dealing with relationship turmoils mostly along with life's everyday challenges.
The first two episodes show Sophie struggling to find true love and even tussle with herself to end a relationship that promises zero future. Her Tinder date (most pop culture references are of the recent past by the way) is a marine biologist and is all set to pursue his career in Australia and he effectively ends the budding romance with one hurried date. Also sharing feelings for her is Chris Lowell's Jesse, who will most probably be the man Sophie will marry, but not without some drama ensuing.
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The supporting cast of Suraj Sharma, Tien Tran, Josh Peck, Ashley Reyes, and Tom Ainsley is a treat to watch as they pop in and out inducing some genuine laughter. The writing, though crisp lacks humor and hopefully Episode 3 would be a better affair. That's not to say the first couple of episodes is terrible. To be honest, comparing this to the OG show is unfair. It's more of expecting 'FRIENDS' to have a reboot or a spinoff ('Joey' did horrendously by the way) to dish out the same level of quality content.
'How I Met Your Father' will take time to grow on the audience. It's got the potential to be a modern-day version of the cult classic, but perhaps the cringe could be done away with. The reason why the show deserves a second shot is that it's got heart. Cattrall, hopefully, gets more screentime rather than just a guide. Duff is charming, funny, cute, and even naive at times in her quest to find true love. Hopefully, the writers have made better attempts to make the show overcome its shortcomings in the remaining episodes.
'How I Met Your Father' drops with a new episode every Tuesday on Hulu.