My thoughts about movies and TV shows I've been watching

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Friday, March 28, 2014

Why I won't watch (any more of) Doll & Em

Watched the first episode of HBO Doll & Em last night and won't be watching any more. Why watch it? Well, everyone like Emily Mortimer, as this show certainly makes clear, and here she plays herself in a comedy-drama about her hiring her close (best?) friend, Doll, (short for Delores?) as her personal assistant, kind of a mercy hire, as Doll on the rebound from a bad relationship and depression (we don't get much back story). Sounds possibly reasonably appealing - a girlie version of Entourage. Aside from the obvious fact of Hollywood's endless fascination with itself - and ours, too, I guess, as we're all kind of interesting in a look at the private and personal lives of the stars - in some ways "they're like us" as US would have it: they crave ice cream, they have their own Starbucks order, they have spats - in other ways they're not at all  "like us" - with their every whim catered to - well, that's the role of the assistant, and it's obviously a bad mistake to entwine friendship with servitude. There may be possibilities here - especially if the assistant aspires to act herself, and maybe dims the light of the star, a la All About Eve? But if the first episode is representative, this show is one big, or shallow, drink of water - very little happens, and nothing of interest. We get the point in about 10 seconds and aside from one well-paced scene in which it gradually dawns on Doll that she's no longer a gal friend but a servant who's paid to cater to her employer's whims  - there's nothing to make this short series distinct, thoughtful, or even particularly funny or fun. Cut.

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