TV Review: Top-grade bullshit spouted in Nine Perfect Strangers
Nine Perfect Strangers stras melissa mcCarthy and Nicole Kidman.
(Amazon Prime) feels like an Agatha Christie play without the body. (At least, I’m still waiting for one at the end of episode two — I’d say there will be one along soon.) It features nine not-so-perfect people who rock up for a session at an exclusive wellness centre called Tranquillum in the middle of nowhere, run by a very Russian woman called Masha, played by what looks like a hologram of Nicole Kidman.
That’s a compliment. Masha exudes mechanical charm as she spouts top-grade bullshit about wellness and rebirth at her nine clients. She’ll make your skin crawl but we don’t know yet if it’s a makey-uppy guru persona or if she’s actually like that in real life.
That’s one of the big questions in , along with how old is Nicole Kidman in real life? Will Americans pay a fortune for anything that includes chimes? And why did no one tell me that Melissa McCarthy is an incredible actress?
Because the show hinges on her character, Frances, a famous romance novelist who can’t stand herself. At first, Frances is just another annoying character (they’re all really annoying in episode one) who can’t enjoy her privileged life. But then we learn she was defrauded by an online lover and slowly opens the door to her hurt and vulnerable side, throwing out some really lovely one-liners as she goes, often aimed at herself.
The show softens as she opens up and we learn about the other characters as well; the family trying to contain their grief after the loss of a son; the Instagram Influencer who wants to know why her husband stopped loving her; the macho guy with a drug problem; the divorcee trying to lose weight; and an angry guy called Lars who might be an undercover journalist, I’m not sure yet.
Add in Masha’s impossibly good-looking assistants, Delilah and Yao, and the tone is set for a decent psychological thriller, more a what-is-really-going-on than a whodunnit. Some of it is clunky — a chunk of Masha’s mysterious past seems to come from the fact that she is Russian, which is a bit unfair on the Russians. And the family trying to cope with grief goes running a lot, because they are trying to run away from their grief - we get it.
B ut it passes the Episode Two Test — I can’t wait to watch episode three. I like the way they’ve created plenty of tension and unknowns without finding a body by the infinity pool in episode one . I like that you think it’s going to be all about Nicole Kidman, but the real treat is Melissa McCarthy.
I’d also like to find out why they keep taking blood from the nine guests in Tranquillum and is it just me, or is the director suggesting they’re using it to make smoothies? Either way, fires a spear at the heart of the wellness industry and has me coming back for more. Take a look for yourself.
