It takes a good knowledge of the subject to spoof it expertly. When it’s done right, you can tell. And so, behold, a thriller spoof done right.
From an executive producer/leading star Veronica Mars herself who is no stranger to the genre and a trio of very clever people I’m not familiar with comes a mini-series so delightfully absurdist, so gleefully wink-wink-nudge-nudge, so charmingly offbeat that you can’t resist it. And because it’s only 8 short (under 30 minute) episodes, you don’t have to…go ahead and binge, this is bingeworthy. As the title (a nifty conglomeration of so many ubiquitous genre titles out there) lets us know, this is one of those murder witnessed thrillers. The witness, though, Bell’s Anna, is a wildly unreliable narrator, mixed up by grief, anti-depressants and copious amounts of wino. Anna sits around her oversized post-divorce abode, drinking wine and spying on the hunky new neighbor across the street. The neighbor has an adorable daughter around the same age Anna’s was when she was tragically murdered under circumstances so outrageous that it’s impossible not to find the comedy in tragedy there. Anna bakes casseroles she drops. Over and over again. In fancy casserole dishes no less. Anna has a bizarre phobia of rain. Anna has a handyman who has been working on the same mailbox for what seems like an indefinitely long time. Anna sees her new neighbor’s flighty flight attendant girlfriend murdered in the window and becomes obsessed with it. All the more so, since there’s no body or evidence of the crime. Anna decides to play detective, while the real detectives around her do the same, much to her hunky neighbor’s (who’s all like come hang one minute and I have a gun, stay away from my family the next) annoyance. Anna cyberstalks her ex. Anna hooks up with a hunky suspect. Anna reupholsters her chair. These who murdered who (if anyone) shenanigans go on, twisting and turning right down to a genuinely innovative, surprising, and wildly entertaining denouement. All in all, oodles of fun. I read tons of thrillers. Thrillers exactly like the one this show spoofs. Because they are everywhere. And because some of them are actually pretty good, provided you sieve through enough chaff to get to the wheat. Sometimes they are even as good as this show. But not often. Thriller movies are seldom this good because they take themselves too seriously. This is a perfect combination of black comedy and thrillers – one that finetunes its tonal bizarro quality to perfection. If this thing has a fault, it’s that it might be too clever for its own good, specifically, too clever for the low hanging fruits Netflix audiences typically love. The kind of audience who might not recognize a parody and take this for a straight-faced mystery show might come away bewildered, confused, and disappointed. A anyone with a more refined viewing palate ought to find this very entertaining. An absolute tongue-in-cheek delight. Recommended.
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