Netflix's 'Living With Yourself' is an old story in a new package with only Paul Rudd making it a watchable experience
Miles Elliott is a middle-aged, advertising professional, striving hard for success at work and life simultaneously. No matter how hard he tries though, life, as he knows it, seems to slip away from his grip, making him question every action.
Frustrated and desperate, he ends up at a top-secret "spa-service" where he accidentally gets himself cloned. And what ensues is a chaotic journey of two Miles, trying to grapple with their newfound identities.
Despite the exciting trailer, the show is anything but what you would expect from names like Paul Rudd (who is also the executive producer of the show), creator and writer Timothy Greenberg, and directors Valeri Faris and Jonathan Dayton.
Though it sounds heart-warming to some extent, haven't we already seen similar plotlines in 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' or 'Clone' or the currently running 'Orphan Black'?
Even the stress ensuing from domestic languor and workplace malaise has been the premise of most comedy-dramas, leading to existential or identity crisis of the main protagonist.
The plot is clichéd, to say the least, but takes off well, no doubt. But after the first couple of episodes, the script moves all over the place, the story tonality fails to connect with the audience, and lack of sharpness fails to effectively culminate domestic drama and self-discovery.
At first, you would think, since it has sci-fi at the core, there would be potential. But that is lost ever since the cloning part is done and dealt with.
One might argue that since it is primarily a comedy, the slight touch-upon the technology would do the needful to set the ball rolling. But then, the question remains, who are we targeting with this concept; sci-fi enthusiasts or comedy fans?
Time and again, we have experienced how weaving humor into scientific concepts never ends up being technically great.
Paul Rudd, one of Hollywood’s sweethearts, is no doubt, the quintessential funnyman with his charming, next-door personality and dark sense of humor that he brings to his comedy characters.
He is probably the only reason why you would want to watch the show in the first place. However, much of it also because we know how incredible Rudd is with his naivety and silliness of his characters. As such, even though we see 'Living With Yourself' packaging the old tale in a new cover, we aren't quite wide-eyed.