The Weekly Watchlist: Netflix's Beef And Grease: Rise Of The Pink Ladies Bring Humor And Heart In Wildly Different Ways (April 3, 2023)
Two highly-anticipated comedy series are hitting streaming platforms this week, the excruciatingly relatable "Beef" on Netflix and the musical prequel series, "Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies" on Paramount+. Meanwhile, there are films like "The Drop" and "Mayhem" available to stream that might help viewers get ready for a series like "Beef." Both flicks are exclusive to their prospective streaming platforms, so hopefully you've got Hulu and Shudder in addition to Netflix. There's also the Netflix series "Julie and the Phantoms" and the oft-forgotten "Grease 2" on Paramount+ to serve as the perfect companion pieces to "Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies." Last-up, there's also the Prime Video series "Paper Girls" which manages to capture the girl-power energy of the new prequel series while boasting a stand-out performance by one of the stars of "Beef."
Beef is about to become your latest TV obsession
Where to Watch "Beef": Netflix
When "Beef" Releases: April 6, 2023
It might sound like a huge claim, but if our review of the new Netflix series is to be believed, "Beef" is the funniest and boldest dark comedy since "Atlanta." Created by Lee Sung Jin who was recently tapped to rewrite the upcoming Marvel movie "Thunderbolts," the Steven Yeun and Ali Wong-starring series is a collaboration between the streaming giant and A24, and it shows. The story follows the duo, who play an unlikely pair whose conflicting lives cross during the type of road rage incident in a parking lot you'd normally see passed around on social media.
The magic of the series lies with Yeun and Wong, who effortlessly capture the type of self-destructive, chaotically messy characters you can't help but love, warts and all. It captures the same fractured, heartfelt, and unhinged comedy most A24 vehicles are known for. At its heart, "Beef" is about exploring the themes of rage, grief, betrayal, and undirected sorrow, while also examining how all of our own personal hangups directly impact how we relate to one another. It's certainly not a "feel good" comedy like "Ted Lasso," but for people who benefit from tough love or are the type of folks who use humor to get through terrible moments, "Beef" is a show that will speak directly to your twisted soul.
Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies has too much heart to hate
Where to Watch "Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies": Paramount+
When "Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies" Releases: April 6, 2023
I'll be the first to admit I was really apprehensive when "Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies" was first announced. As one of the foremost advocates for the cult cinema treasure known as "Grease 2," I've lost count of how many "Grease" or "Grease 2" articles/podcasts/think pieces I've put out over the years. When the trailers first arrived, boasting a beautifully diverse cast that was definitely not a part of the first two films, I was still worried. If this is a prequel series about the formation of the Pink Ladies, whose canonical origins would now mark that the social club was founded on intersectionality ... it implies something seriously sinister happened if the Pink Ladies of Rydell High seen in the feature films wound up exclusively white.
Fortunately, "Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies" is not a bit of revisionist history, and manages to tackle the uncomfortable realities of the 1950s while boasting some seriously killer musical numbers that are sure to delight anyone still recovering from years of watching "Glee." The series refreshingly pulls a lot of the feminist subtext of the films to the forefront, but has a lot on its plate trying to juggle themes of racism, sexism, xenophobia, gender nonconformity, and the cruel politics of high school, often to uneven results. But despite the obvious missteps, "Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies" has so much heart, you can't help but root for its success. Did anyone ask for this? No, not really, but I'm certainly not upset by its existence.
The Drop is a masterclass in cringe comedy
The Movie: "The Drop"
Where You Can Stream It: Hulu
Sarah Adina Smith is known for her surreal films like "The Midnight Swim," "Buster's Mal Heart," and "Birds of Paradise," but her sensibilities are well suited in the darkly comedic Hulu feature, "The Drop." Starring Anna Konkle ("Pen15"), Jermaine Fowler ("Superior Donuts"), and Jillian Bell ("Brittany Runs a Marathon"), the film takes a downright horrific premise and finds a way to make it skin-crawling and hilarious. Konkle and Fowler play a young couple named Lex and Mani who are attending a destination wedding at a tropical resort when the unthinkable happens — Lex drops their friend's baby. Don't worry, the kid is fine, but the adults from this moment forward are very much not fine.
The film was produced by Mark and Jay Duplass, so you expect the same kind of indie weirdo vibes found in films like "Creep," "Jeff, Who Lives at Home," or "Baghead." While the film was written by Smith and co-writer Joshua Leonard, "The Drop" takes a mumblecore approach by having the actors largely improv their own dialogue. The result is an uncomfortably natural comedy that feels less like watching "a comedy movie" and instead captures the sensation of being in a public place and witnessing strangers have total meltdowns. If a show like "Beef" works for you, "The Drop" will feel right at home.
Julie and the Phantoms sing a sweet, spooky song
The Series: "Julie and the Phantoms"
Where You Can Stream It: Netflix
Tragically canceled after only one season, the teen musical dramedy series "Julie and the Phantoms" is the perfect appetizer for a show like "Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies." The series follows a musician named Julie Molina (Madison Reyes) who is having a hard time creating new music after her mother passes away. One day, Julie listens to an old CD and summons the ghosts of a band from 1995. Naturally, Julie becomes the band's lead singer, and if you guessed that she'd develop feelings for one of her new ghostly bandmates, you're absolutely right. "Julie and the Phantoms" is somewhat of a paint-by-numbers teen musical series, but the music is legitimately fantastic (they won an Emmy!) and all of the characters are so charming, it's hard not to immediately get on board with the ridiculous premise.
The series was executive produced by musical mogul Kenny Ortega, the choreographer turned director behind beloved projects like "Newsies," "Hocus Pocus," "Descendants," and the "High School Musical" trilogy. The series has a very vocal and dedicated fanbase, so if you watch the show and fall in love with it like so many others and need a place to vent about its untimely cancellation, don't worry. You're in good company. Here's hoping "Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies" doesn't suffer a similar fate.
Steven Yeun and Samara Weaving tear it up in Mayhem
The Movie: "Mayhem"
Where You Can Stream It: Shudder
Steven Yeun's breakthrough role came when he was cast as Glenn Rhee on "The Walking Dead," but if you ask me, it was in 2017 when he appeared in both Bong Joon-ho's "Okja" and Joe Lynch's "Mayhem" that he truly came into his own. The latter, especially, was a fantastic showcase of the balls-to-the-wall commitment Yeun has when entering the genre sphere, and his chemistry with co-star Samara Weaving is off-the-charts fantastic. "Mayhem" is about a fictional pandemic known as ID-7 aka "Red Eye," that turns people into impulse monsters.
While the infected aren't zombies by any means, the disease attacks the neural pathways and absolutely obliterates any sense of inhibition or a moral compass. People are operating on their most intrusive thoughts, throwing the world into, well, mayhem. While "Beef" is certainly nowhere near the high-octane thrill ride as "Mayhem," there's a level of commitment in Yeun's performance that has evolved from his role in this flick. The film is a twisted, social satire set in a cutthroat law office, but with plenty of dark humor to keep things from ever feeling too heavy. If you ask me, "Mayhem" is the perfect appetizer for "Beef."
Grease 2 is the word
The Movie: "Grease 2"
Where You Can Stream It: Paramount+
Look, no one needs me to tell them to watch "Grease" because it's one of the most recognizable IPs in history, but "Grease 2" has been treated like the Cousin Oliver of the franchise for far too long when in reality, the controversial sequel has always been the Marcia Brady. The film is most well-known for giving Michelle Pfeiffer her first leading role, but the raunchy, feminist, dance-forward musical sequel has only gotten better with time. Is a song like "Reproduction" or "Do It For Our Country" as accessible as "Summer Nights" or "We Go Together"? Absolutely not, but "Grease 2" has better choreography, snappier humor, and might be too weird for your grandma to want to watch with you.
"Grease 2" focuses so much more on the Pink Ladies and their leader, Stephanie Zinoni (Pfeiffer), and rightfully portrays the T-Birds as a bunch of corny try-hards in leather jackets. This is a film about a woman taking control of her own place in the high school hierarchy, and bucking the so-called "rules" of young women's required allegiance to their boyfriends. In fact, I'd argue that without "Grease 2," a show like "Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies" wouldn't have been possible, because the film serves as a bridge between the squeaky clean original and much more progressive prequel series.
It also has Lorna Luft in the world's greatest pair of gold lamé pants and a song about paying sex workers. You love to see it.
Paper Girls deserved better
The Series: "Paper Girls"
Where You Can Stream It: Prime Video
Another show canceled way too soon is "Paper Girls," based on the comic book series of the same name. The show was billed as "Stranger Things" for girls, which did a disservice to the genuinely phenomenal series. /Film's own Valerie Ettenhofer called the series "a singular, satisfying take on girlhood and time travel" in her review, and pointed out how it is a "rare comic book adaptation that both honors and improves upon the source material." The show follows four paper delivery girls on their post-Halloween routes, who get caught in the middle of two warring factions of time travelers. They end up thrown into the future, coming face-to-face with their older selves, which is a severe mind melt for a group of girls who haven't even really hit puberty.
"Paper Girls" fits a bit more in line as a recommendation with "Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies," but features a fantastic supporting performance by "Beef" star Ali Wong as the adult version of one of the time-traveling tweens. Wong is an incredibly gifted stand-up comedian, as shown in her Netflix specials "Baby Cobra," "Hard Knock Wife," and "Don Wong," which made her a shoo-in for comedic projects like "Tuca & Bertie" and "Always Be My Maybe," but "Paper Girls" really lets Wong shine as a complex, emotional character, something well on display in "Beef."