ROMANTIC COMEDIES ARE built on the strength of their leads, but it’s the supporting cast that helps them become classics. When Harry met Sally is led by Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan who turn in some of the genre’s best characters and performances of all time, but the film isn’t the same without the late Bruno Kirby and Carrie Fisher as their respective friends and sidekicks. Rhys Ifans shines Notting Hill. Kathryn Hahn turned in one of her first, best performances How to lose a man in 10 days. Polly came by doesn’t come up often in these conversations, but it would be sacrilege to omit the fact that Philip Seymour Hoffman turned in some of his best work ever (seriously!) as Ben Stiller’s goofy, sardonic best friend.

Which is to say: there’s a lot of importance to a rom-com’s supporting cast. Fortunately, the rom-com of the moment is Netflix’s Nobody wants this understands that. The show is built on the backs of its leads – played by the utterly charming Adam Brody and Kristen Bell – but it’s their respective sidekicks, played by Timothy Simons and Justine Lupe, who help the show grow from a nice little affair to what might be is normal. be an instant classic.

Nobody wants this keeps things simple; Simons plays Sasha, the married brother of Brody’s Rabbi Noah, while Lupe plays Morgan, the single-sex podcaster sister of Bell’s Joanne. They’re friends And family. And both have relationships with the leads that immediately feel alive. These aren’t people they’re just getting to know, or new friendships; these people feel comfortable when they laugh with each other, ask each other everything and confide in each other. Think of Tom Hanks and Dave Chappelle walking down the street You have mail; a friendship that feels like the trust was built a long time ago.

But what makes Simons and Lupe so great in Nobody wants this is the fact that they are not just wallpaper, or a sounding board for the leads to bounce their thoughts and questions off of. They’re both fully realized characters in their own rights, and they both are really very funny. It helps that both are veterans of popular HBO shows; Simons has mastered the art of being hilariously annoying and overconfident after his turn as Jonah Ryan Veep, while Lupe did the most subtle and often hilarious comedic work as Willa Ferreyra, Connor Roy’s escort turned wife in Succession.

Simons and Lupe get their own moments, away from Brody and Bell Nobody wants some at. In an early episode, Sasha is enjoying his rare time alone at home when he decides to have something edible and do what any movie-loving man between the ages of 20 and 60 would do with a free night’s stay: watch Tom Cruise. Mission: Impossible – dead reckoning. But after he finishes his edible and before he starts the movie, his tween daughter comes home and desperately needs help with some boy problem. Simons, a comedy veteran at this point, wonderfully navigates the storyline in a way that is both warm and funny, leaving us to trust Sasha and want to see more of him.

Also in a later season subplot, Morgan is in a bar when she runs into Noah’s ex Rebecca (Emily Arlook). Morgan decides to search for information in an interaction that ultimately has multiple layers of deception, but thanks to Lupe’s own comedic skills, it becomes yet another moment where we find yet another character to trust and root for.

But perhaps the most interesting thing about Sasha and Morgan Nobody wants some is when we see them come together, in what is, in a sense, a kind of enemies-versus-lovers or enemies-versus-friends or, well, something. When the pair first meet, Morgan finds Sasha annoying, as she accidentally tells this to their entire car via a voice-to-text accident; she is also shocked to learn that he is married.

As the show progresses, however, their bond grows stronger, especially after Sasha calls them the “loser siblings” – they can be great and try their hardest, but their parents and family always seem to lean towards the others. . As they grow closer, both seem to question their budding friendship a little; Sasha says he’s only had one girlfriend and he married her, while Morgan admits to Joanne that she had a sex dream about Sasha.

The show ends with Sasha and Morgan as just that: friends. And as the beautiful series of Apple TV+ Platonic (starring Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne) beautifully showcased, the is It’s possible that men and women are just old platonic friends. Not everything has to go in a romantic direction.

But that’s part of what makes Sasha and Morgan dynamic Nobody wants this so interesting – she Doing have great chemistry, and it really seems like they Doing have a great connection. It would be really nice to see them get together, but at the same time, we certainly don’t want to see Sasha’s family fall apart – especially after his wife Esther (Jackie Tohn) actually showed significant character growth. and development during the season. But the season does end with Esther (and Noah and Sasha’s mother) making angry eyes at Sasha while talking to Morgan… so things could definitely come to a head in the very near future, even without any explicitly romantic rapprochement so far.

Historically, the only way to make this kind of situation work in rom-coms and make the audience feel good about it is to introduce other characters and advocate for all kinds of partner swapping; think of Disney Enchanted for that one. But as we move towards hopefully a season 2 of Nobody wants this we’ll just have to hold on to what we have with Sasha and Morgan’s magic, and see where it goes from here.

You might like it too