'Man Seeking Woman'
B+
The stakes are high, and there is a crisis afoot. At the round table of the Center for Important Emergencies sit military men, scientists and anyone who can help in this time of dire need. The task: send a text asking a girl on a date.
The romantic comedy is so chock-full of clichés and flavorless bits it’s about time someone turned the genre on its head.
That someone is creator, producer and show-runner Simon Rich, who has turned his book of short stories, “The Last Girlfriend on Earth,” into a superb series on FXX, called “Man Seeking Woman.”
Jay Baruchel, who plays the nervous and introverted Josh Greenberg, has come into his own in “Man Seeking Woman.” As chaos ensues around him, he grounds the show and gives it the emotional core that is key in any romantic comedy.
The show can essentially be cut into odd sketches where a feeling or interaction in the dating world is hyperbolized and turned into comedy.
As mentioned earlier, the Center for Important Emergencies is one of these bits. Josh’s request is to send a text to a girl he met on the train, which turns into a round table discussion about the best way to phrase the text and whether an emoticon is truly necessary.
Whether it’s an exorcism to get rid of an ex-girlfriend’s old stuff, news breaking about a text not receiving a reply or a literal troll in place of a girl deemed ugly by the main character, “Man Seeking Woman” seems to have no boundaries in how far it will go to make a joke.
Of course, these swings can have their repercussions. If a sketch isn’t working, it might continue until the next commercial break.
So far in the show, the core joke has fallen flat a few times and the audience has to wait for the scene to end and the next act to begin.
That said, the batting average for the show has been terrific thus far as multiple hilarious bits follow every bland one.
“Man Seeking Woman” might be only two episodes in, but it’s refreshing to find a comedy on television that’s not afraid to push the boundaries and won’t settle for a joke followed by a studio audience’s cackling.
