Lisa Kudrow makes the best offer in Netflix’s real estate black comedy
No Good Deed ★★★½
Netflix
Making a killing buying or selling real estate starts to sound all too literal in this urgent black comedy, where the sale of a Los Angeles home upends the lives – and more specifically the lies – of both the buyers and the sellers. The panic of making the best deal starts to infect the cross-section of characters, starting with vendors Lydia and Paul Morgan (Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano), empty nesters whose 1920s villa-style residence in the desirable Los Angeles suburb of Los Feliz is this show’s accelerant.
Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano in No Good Deed.Credit: Saeed Adyani/Netflix
With just eight episodes, each 30 to 35 minutes long, No Good Deed starts quickly and never slows. The first open house, which Lydia and Paul monitor with extreme care, introduces multiple interested parties, each of whom see the house solving their problems. Pregnant newlyweds Dennis and Carla (O-T Fagbenle and Teyonah Parris) need a family space, even as his mother, Denise (Anna Maria Horsford), hovers, while JD and Margo (Luke Wilson and Linda Cardellini) need to downsize because his acting career has nosedived.
No Good Deed was created by Liz Feldman, whose previous Netflix series, Dead to Me, is an underseen gem. Her mordant tone takes root in uncomfortable gaps: between the petty concerns and the underlying trauma, between the urge to unburden and the need to be left alone. But No Good Deed is the speed-dating version – before the first episode is over, Paul is being menaced by Mikey (Denis Leary), who knows more about the secrets the house holds than the flashbacks are hinting at.
There’s a serve of screwball to the connivances and near-miss calamities, but the tone really pinballs. It goes from farcical exchanges to pained recriminations and back again, mostly without a middle ground. The plotting eventually finds gravity in the depths of Lydia and Paul’s foundering relationship, which needs more than a healthy seven-figure sale price. Lydia, a classical pianist who can no longer play, is a blithe but tragic figure, and Kudrow captures her pain in genuine but authentically idiosyncratic ways.
O-T Fagbenle and Anna Maria Horsford in No Good Deed.Credit: Saeed Adyani/Netflix
With its side missions and ludicrous tinges of Los Angles humour – real estate agent Greg (Matt Rogers) really comes into his own – No Good Deed is a binge that’s determined not to linger; it has an extremely short settlement period. There are combinations of actors, such as Kudrow and Cardellini, who are so good together that you wish they had more scenes to share, but the pacing is paramount here. It’s an enjoyable holiday season watch, but when it’s done, consider seeking out Dead to Me.
Keanu Reeves in Secret Level.Credit: Amazon Prime Video
Secret Level ★★½
Amazon Prime
With the success of Binge’s The Last of Us and Amazon Prime’s Fallout, video game adaptations are having a moment – gameplay actually can translate into a scripted series. It should be the ideal lead-in to this animation anthology, in which each of the 15 episodes uses a famous video game as the inspiration for a story set within that franchise’s realm, but Secret Level is a deeply mixed collection that feels more like a homage than a fresh perspective.
Creator Tim Miller, who directed the first Deadpool movie and, more importantly, oversees the successful Netflix anthology Love, Death & Robots, is the natural choice for this project, but too few of the animation studio and writer pairings he’s assigned stack up. Too often an episode’s visuals ape the style of the game that inspired them, or they duplicate the source’s mechanics. There is a surplus of futuristic fighting and dying.
Keanu Reeves capably voices a mech pilot in Armoured Core: Asset Management, but the fairytale-like story of New World: The Once and Future King, with Arnold Schwarzenegger as thwarted monarch becalmed in time, is the rare engaging story that covers a great deal of ground in its 15 minutes. The welcome, if gore-laden, surprise? Pac-Man: Circle, which transcends its source material and is all the better for it.
Beyonce performing at the 2016 NFL Super Bowl.Credit: AP
NFL on Boxing Day
Netflix
The most popular sport in America, the National Football League delivers burgeoning multibillion-dollar rights deals. Amazon already has a weekly game, but now Netflix has secured a foothold. On Boxing Day it has reigning champions the Kansas City Chiefs versus the Pittsburgh Steelers at 5am, followed by the Houston Texans hosting the Baltimore Ravens at 8.30am. Netflix, which had embarrassing issues with the Mike Tyson and Jake Paul boxing stream, has to establish its live credentials. It’s certainly not sparing any expense in its coverage. The halftime entertainment in Houston is a performance by Beyonce.
Ben Stiller with Arlo Janson in Nutcrackers.Credit: AP
Nutcrackers
Disney+
Ben Stiller has spent more time behind the camera than in front of it in recent years, serving as the lead director on Apple TV+’s brain-bending masterpiece Severance (new season January 17!). Unfortunately, his return to top billing is this stunted Christmas comedy, in which he plays a driven Chicago businessman suddenly forced to care for the orphaned children of his sister. Grieving and comic chaos are an odd mix, especially when you can see where the story is heading. That said, the four real-life Kicklighter brothers playing Stiller’s nephews are natural screen talents.
The Secret Lives of AnimalsCredit: Apple TV+
The Secret Lives of Animals
Apple TV+
Produced with typical care and intimate access by the BBC’s celebrated Natural History Unit, each of the 10 episodes of this animal world documentary series has a theme summed up by the episode’s title. There’s Leaving Home, Protecting Yourself, Finding a Partner and more. The practical effect is that the narrative can skip from one highlight to the next, with the narration from Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville providing the necessary links. It’s a lush, family-friendly nature documentary, warmly watchable, and the years of preparation and filming are readily apparent.
Universal Basic GuysCredit: Stan
Universal Basic Guys
Stan
With the enduring success of The Simpsons, Bob’s Burgers and Family Guy, America’s Fox network has long been committed to animated comedies. The mythic mayhem of Krapopolis is the best of their recent launches, but this doofus diversion struggles to shine. Brothers Mark and Hank Hoagies are Jersey factory workers who are put on a universal basic income program when their jobs are replaced by robots. Their pockets are full, but their days – and often brains – are empty. There’s some affection behind the pair’s mishaps, but the episodes remain worryingly slight.
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