'Living With Yourself' review: A not-so-good show which can still make you feel good
Imagine waking up one day and coming face to face with another version of you! Or, let’s back up a little and go back to those days where you might have felt totally burned out by life, wanting to break free, and wishing if you could only press the reset button on life? What if you could be yourself, only a little better and smarter in everything you do? Meet Miles Elliott(Paul Rudd), your guy next door, who has the same problems as most of us. Bogged down with his uneventful personal life, unsuccessful career, and burdened by responsibilities, Miles desperately seeks a way out. After a recommendation from a coworker, he reluctantly finds himself at a mysterious spa treatment, only to end up with a clone of himself, only a better version. That pretty much sums up the plot of Netflix’s new original, ‘Living With Yourself’, streaming October 18 onwards on Netflix.
If you are already feeling intrigued by the core plot, then wait! There’s more that could pique your interest (spoiler alert!). Gear up all Paul Rudd fans, because, he’s back to the small screen with the quintessential charm he is known for. Rudd owns the story as Miles Elliott, and his clone, New Miles (or so he’s known on the show) in his first leading role in a television series. Co-starring as Miles's wife Kate we have the ever-talented and gorgeous Aisling Bea, with her composure and on-the-point performance of the much-disappointed wife. Initially, you would anticipate some kind of rivalry between the two versions of Miles, each trying to outwit the other, but nothing of that sort ensues. Or perhaps, that would have been clichéd. Instead, Miles's characters evolve with maturity. And Kate (Aisling Bea) is just in the right place with her anger, confusion, and frustration towards her life and her husband.
Although ‘Living With Yourself’ pivots on a classic “life do-over” plot, it is not as clichéd. It has a comical take on the conventional concept and is silly and enduring at the same time. It uses sci-fi as the base but packs generous doses of rom-com and drama. Watching a hapless man get a second chance to do things his way in life brings a feeling of warmth. And Rudd drives it home with his typically appealing persona in the stark opposite characters. Rudd has always been one of Hollywood’s most likable actors and comedian-writer-actor Bea equally shines with her au naturale performance.
Now, here’s for the moment of truth. Created and written by Emmy Award winner Timothy Greenberg, of ‘The Daily Show’ fame, and directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris ('The Battle of the Sexes', 'Little Miss Sunshine'), you would expect a whole lot of quality content and no room for misdirection. ‘For instance, when New Miles visits his (Miles’) sister, Maia, and has a heartfelt conversation, it doesn’t seem quite natural, considering we have no precedence to their chemistry, except for a verbal mention. Though the trailer promises a joyride, the entire season fails to live up to the expectation. The first episode starts with all the excitement, revealing Miles and Miles, who successfully end up helping each other out. But eventually, the storyline gets sloppy and drops uninterestingly.
With all eight episodes streaming together, it is perfectly designed for a binge session. But it feels like too much too soon and the season ends even before you could get a hang of the finer nuances of the characters. While the Rashomon-style storytelling makes it intriguing for us, it is not the kind of narrative everyone can connect with. Almost all episodes have a hanging tension, but the season finale leaves you with the most pertinent question- will the shared relationship of Miles, Kate, and new Miles, as they welcome fatherhood, be a blessing or a curse for the trio? And with that, we can be sure than a second season might be following soon.
To wrap it up, ‘Living With Yourself’ has a great start but loses the tempo of the story halfway through. Despite great performances by the lead actors, the execution is amiss in many places. Technically and critically, the show might not fulfill your need for ‘content-rich’ entertainment, but if you are having a hard time dealing with life, and need simple humor, after a long, tiring day, then ‘Living with Yourself’ is just what the doctor would have prescribed.