'The Sex Lives of College Girls' Review: A warm yet flighty view of 4 years of college
The famous actress, writer, and producer, Mindy Kaling is back with a brand new teen drama series, 'The Sex Lives of College Girls', co-created by Justin Noble. The comedy series follows the lives of four college roommates, all set to embrace this new phase of their lives.
College is a whole new world and the girls in the 10 episodes of the HBO Max drama are intrigued by everything they see and hear; intimacy, sex, sexual orientation and BOYS. The series stars Pauline Chalamet, Renee Rapp, Alyah Scott, and Amrit Kaur in lead roles. If dramas on college life interest you, then you may want to check out the movie 'Yes, God, Yes', or Netflix's 'Sex Education'.
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If some serious thought is put into the film industry, you'll find yourself listing out several teen-themed, high school or college drama movies and shows, since this particular genre sits well with all age groups. This particular period in life is a phase that everyone yearns for before they experience it, while the elders reminisce their carefree days once it's over.
Co-creator Mindy Kaling’s latest HBO Max comedy focuses on the crux of forever type of friendships, formed during a very formative and awkward time of life - a student's college days. A very important aspect of the series is that the characters themselves are people that are relatable with their messy, chaotic, egotistical, flamboyant, scared personas and emotions all over the place.
The series's main focus is on four girls who are roommates. There’s Leighton (played by Renee Rapp), a worshipped living legacy from New York. You could say that she is the Regina George from 'Mean Girls' in this situation and in addition, is struggling to fit in given her sexual identity.
Next up is Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet), a typical geek, so to say, hailing from a small town, with her sole focus being an elaborate work-study plan. We then have Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott), the daughter of a popular US senator, who struggles to fit into a White-dominated life and lastly, Bela (Amrit Kaur), a human cartoon who constantly tells her Indian immigrant parents that she has taken up neurobiology as her subject, which clearly isn't the case.
Since the majority of coming-of-age movies and shows keep things raw and bold, Kaling and Noble have done just that with this warm, observant, and rather raunchy show. The four stars of the series, although poles apart and mismatched, have strong, vivacious, and diverse characters, making the cast in itself intriguing to the audience, thereby setting the bar pretty high for any other genre in the industry. Not all is perfect in this story, Kaling has her share of pitfalls with the forced craving for sex and the awkward jokes.
All in all, the show is both entertaining and affirming of the girls' interests in nascent sexuality, without pretending to know how to handle it. Yet they all have sex on their mind – the sex they want to have, while some are waiting for Mr Right, some are hiding and facing the unpleasantness of it all; the sex they’re talking about at frat parties and dining halls also reflect on the sexism that exist in these social spaces. But aside from this, we also see that these characters are wholly passionate about other things as well be it sports, academics or their careers.
If you're an ardent fan of the Netflix series, 'Sex Education', this one must be your next must-watch!
'The Sex Lives of College Girls' premiered on November 18, 2021, on HBO Max.
