It’s unfortunate that Seth Rogen is the one who spearheaded this show, because with slightly better lead performances and slightly better writing, this could have been something really special. I’ve seen people compare The Studio to Curb Your Enthusiasm, but The Studio only wishes it were as good. Where Larry David might make one arguably justified social faux pas that derails the evening, The Studio’s Matt Remick continually digs himself into the biggest hole you’ve ever seen. It’s a bit of a turnoff just how incompetent he and his co-workers are. In one episode, Matt visits a movie set while they’re filming a very difficult long take, and he simply cannot stop making things worse. Like, how did this bumbling idiot become a studio executive in the first place if he doesn’t know how to behave?!
But, you know, maybe that’s the point. The Studio is trying to highlight that Hollywood is run by a bunch of morons with fragile egos. And that would be fine and all if the jokes were actually funny. But I simply didn’t laugh as much as I was supposed to. The first episode is about Matt being forced to make a Kool-Aid movie, which is a funny idea, and it’s certainly amusing how he tries to twist it into being a more prestigious film. But the acting from Rogen and co-star Ike Barinholtz is just too over-the-top and frantic. The Studio as a show wants to be prestigious itself but isn’t able to balance cringe comedy with good writing. In another episode, for instance, everyone at the studio is too afraid to tell Ron Howard that the ending of his movie sucks, but the way it plays out is corny and predictable and the wrong type of cringe.
I hate to be so negative about this show, though, because this is a great template, and hopefully it hits a better stride in future seasons. The Studio is as much a love letter to film as it is a satire of the industry, and that’s typically right up my alley. I love shows and movies that go meta. It is, in fact, fun to see so many Hollywood folks play alternate versions of themselves (a la Curb), and the cinematography and production value are impressive. That “long take” episode was also filmed as a long take, though they do occasionally cheat with a whip pan and even call this out in the onscreen story by saying, “Can’t you just do a whip pan and stitch the shots together?” So I do think this is a show worth checking out, especially if you have any knowledge or interest in the movie making process, but I also can’t help but notice all the ways it could have been much better.
