Get to Know 'Spy' Scene Stealer Miranda Hart on 'Miranda'
As the summer movie season draws to a close, it’s a good opportunity to note that the multiplexes have been light on great comedies during the past three months. Sure, we got Trainwreck, but it wasn’t really surprising that the team-up of Amy Schumer and Judd Apatow would result in lots of laughs. To find another comedy that consistently lived up to its potential, you have to travel all the way back to May, and the release of the latest Melissa McCarthy/Paul Feig collaboration Spy. A clever riff on Bond/Bourne spy thrillers, the movie surrounded McCarthy with an ace team of supporting players including Jude Law, Rose Byrne, Jason Statham… and Miranda Hart.
Don’t know Miranda Hart? Well, you should. A towering British comedian, Hart started out performing at the famed Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which paved the way for appearances on such popular British sitcoms as Absolutely Fabulous and The Vicar of Dibley. She finally attained solo stardom through her self-titled series Miranda, which launched in 2009 and ran for three seasons, followed by two specials, the last of which aired in England in January 2015. Miranda’s 18-episode run — minus the two concluding specials — is available to stream on Hulu, and shows you why Hart caught the eye of TV fans in her native land, not to mention Paul Feig. (Feig, by the way, has a track record of bringing international comics to American movie screens. For example, Bridesmaids was the launching pad for Aussie comedian Rebel Wilson’s U.S. career.)
Loosely based on Hart’s own life, the series follows Miranda as she navigates always-tricky matters of the heart. Consistently unlucky in love, to the chagrin of her overbearing mother (Patricia Hodge) and the amusement of her friend/business partner (Sarah Hadland), Miranda finally has the chance to break her cycle of non-existent boyfriends when she meets the handsome Gary (Tom Ellis — soon to become familiar to American TV audiences as the devilish star of Fox’s Lucifer, based on the comic book.) But despite her best (and worst) efforts, the two can’t ever seem to get on the same page. Even when they start dating other people, though, they just can’t quit each other.
The early episodes of Miranda rely a little too heavily on jokes at the expense of Hart’s appearance and the heights of her fictional mom’s obnoxiousness, but the characters become more endearing as the show progresses. The “will they or won’t they” element of Miranda and Gary’s relationship also moves beyond Ross/Rachel fan-fiction and becomes sweetly entertaining on its own terms. And Hart herself grows more and more comfortable in front of the camera. Don’t be surprised if, in a few years, she’s starring in her own movies instead of stealing scenes from McCarthy.
Miranda is available to stream on Hulu.
