Platonic review: Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne elevate this blithe buddy comedy
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It's not surprising, given the success of Ted Lasso, that Apple TV+ is building a stable of similarly genial comedies about middle-aged folks reassessing their lives. Lasso, Loot, Shrinking, The Big Door Prize — and now Platonic, a slight yet perfectly pleasant comedy that reunites Neighbors co-stars Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen as adults who rekindle a friendship. Created by Francesca Delbanco (Friends From College) and Neighbors director Nick Stoller, Platonic would be unremarkable if it weren't for the indisputable charisma of its leads, who use their comfortable comic chemistry to wring decent laughs out of a tenuous premise.
Former best friends Sylvia (Byrne) and Will (Rogen) stopped speaking five years ago, after a disagreement about Will's soon-to-be-wife, Audrey (Alisha Wainwright). When news of Will's divorce pops up on Instagram, Sylvia — encouraged by her good-natured husband, Charlie (Luke Macfarlane) — decides to reach out. Though their initial coffee-shop reunion is stilted and awkward, a boozy night out kickstarts the pair's stalled bond, just when they're both in need of a distraction. With her youngest (Sophia Kopera) now in kindergarten, stay-at-home mom Sylvia begins to wonder if she made a mistake giving up her law career to raise a family. And Will, a brewmaster at an L.A. pub, feels pressure from his business partners, Andy (Tre Hale) and Reggie (Andrew Lopez), to "sell out" — that is, make a deal with a tacky restaurant chain and its multi-millionaire owner (Ted McGinley, an elder statesman of scene stealing).
APPLE TV+ Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne in 'Platonic'
Initially, Platonic seems intent on dusting off the old "Can straight men and women really be friends?" debate. There are the requisite references to When Harry Met Sally and a character actually says, "You can only be friends with a woman if she's not hot." Mercifully, Stoller and Delbanco veer away from this creaky conceit quickly and focus instead on the relative novelty of building a buddy comedy around buddies of the opposite sex. Unburdened by any physical attraction or past romantic entanglements, Will and Sylvia offer each other the freedom to be their messiest selves while engaging in the type of dumb-fun antics most of us abandon as adults. She helps him bleach his hair blond. ("Is it supposed to be burning my scalp this much?" "That's just the dignity leaving your body.") He saves her from a disastrous real estate deal by posing as her contractor. They get day drunk and ride rental scooters.
It's all very light-hearted and low stakes, though mild tensions arise as other people in Will and Sylvia's lives begin to have understandable misgivings about their oddball relationship. ("It's like their friendship excludes everybody, including me," says Charlie.) Eventually, Sylvia and Will nudge each other toward necessary revelations about why their lives feel so stagnant. But Platonic mainly serves as a showcase for the considerable rapport between its leads, both of whom are clearly having a blast razzing each other like sarcastic siblings. Byrne lets a fizzy playfulness break through Sylvia's buttoned-up façade, while Rogen puts his typical sunny spin on even the darkest jokes. ("Tell that to Mel Gibson. Literally, you have to tell him, because he will not talk to Jewish people.")
Still, 10 episodes of hangout humor is a lot, and Platonic can only coast so far on the likability of its stars. At times, Stoller and Delblanco seem to be reaching for story ideas, which results in some sweaty silliness — like Will and Sylvia's late-night scramble to fix a defaced painting. The season doesn't build to any particular insight about its characters, beyond the obvious observation that friendships between men and women can be just as dysfunctional as a bad romance. But I'm certainly not going to be so ghoulish as to suggest that all comedy series need to have a message. TV is allowed to be fun, and Platonic just wants to show you a good time. Grade: B
Platonic premieres Wednesday, May 24, on Apple TV+.
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