Lena Dunham’s New Show, Too Much, Is A Funny, Clumsy Ode To Finding Love In London
Girls creator Lena Dunham returned to TV this weekend with Too Much, her new romcom that’s all about the ups and downs of dating. Starring Will Sharpe (The White Lotus) and Megan Stalter (Hacks) as two people from very different backgrounds who meet in London, the show has received a lot of polarised reviews – publications in the US are calling it the best rom-com of the year, while some in the UK are less impressed. So what’s our take? Here’s an honest review from a Girls fan, who had some high expectations for Too Much:
The premise of Too Much sounded like a show that was just my sort of thing. Jessica, a 30-something New Yorker, moves to London after a devastating breakup, in the hope of finding her own little Bridgerton-esque romance. Only once she lands in London (tiny hairless dog in tow), she realises that the reality in London is not quite, well, Notting Hill. She meets Felix, an indie musician playing at a pub, and their “meet-cute” occurs over toilet paper (sorry, bog rolls), in a dingy loo.
Love & Loss in London
As someone who has herself moved to London from a foreign country, I was rooting for a show that’s all about feeling equally lost and excited in the big city. And I think the show does a great job of capturing that almost naive excitement of moving to a new country, and assuming that you can leave your problems behind. But, as Jessica, our protagonist, discovers, your past follows you, no matter how many flights you catch. And so, even safely far away across the pond, Jess finds herself endlessly internet stalking Wendy Jones (Emily Ratajkowski), her ex’s fiancée. We’ve all found ourselves at some point or the other endlessly scrolling someone’s perfectly curated life online. The pain feels raw, and while melodramatic, I did find myself being able to relate to that paranoia, when you know full well that you can just put your phone away, but you’re just unable to silence that little voice in your head that pushes you to keep scrolling.
I have to admit I did find the first couple of episodes hard to get through – there was a lot of screaming, ranting and stereotypical Britishisms. While the loud bits of the show might be the attention grabbers, I found myself drawn to the slower, calmer moments – I think those are the times when Dunham’s talent for capturing human emotions really shines. There’s a shot where Felix and Jess are lying down, and Jess is listening to a mixed CD that Felix has made for her. The shot is stretched out, and nothing really happens. It’s just Jess listening to a song, with Felix lying down beside her. But it feels intimate. Dunham’s talent for not missing out on the small moments in a relationship is one of my favourite parts of the show.
Sure, there are an abundance of cliches – but I haven’t seen a rom-com that focuses so intensely on the tiny little moments, not just the big, grand gestures.
Too Much isn’t afraid of showing the big, bad, ugly side of a character.
Too Much isn’t afraid of showing the big, bad, ugly side of a character. We see Jess as caring, empathetic, loving, adventurous – but also quite self-involved, insecure and obsessed with her ex, so much so that he becomes like an imaginary friend she sees everywhere she goes.
A moment for the guest stars
And there are the guest stars. Kit Harington does a beautiful job of playing Jessica’s late father – you might not have ever imagined him playing the role, but it works – and while he appears only fleetingly, mostly singing his daughter to sleep, those scenes are emotional to watch. And it also brings you to think about how different you can turn out if you’re the kind of kid who has been “tucked in” or not. In a particularly emotional scene, Felix confesses to Jess that he’s never been tucked into bed by his parents, prompting Jess to show him how it’s done. Again, it’s the least sexual of scenes, but it feels the most intimate, and I think Dunham has managed to capture the realities of entering a relationship in your 30s through a very practical lens. Bottom line: Everyone has baggage. The show centres around two people who have gotten through life so far, still holding onto a lot of unresolved issues, from family trauma to toxic relationships, but at its core, it’s about how you don’t have to be perfect to be worthy of love, and it’s okay if you don’t have it all together in your 30s.
Andrew Scott appears for a brief but memorable time as a pretentious filmmaker who spends a lot of time on Letterboxd. There is a particularly awkward sex scene where Dunham manages to make one of the internet’s most adored boyfriends into someone who is anything but sexy. I suppose there is a talent in making someone so loved, convincingly play a character who is so unlikable.
The flashbacks of Jessica’s relationship with her ex are drawn out gradually and feel like a slow burn. It’s painful to watch her rapidly lose her sense of self-worth under her ex, Zev’s (Michael Zegen) constant gaslighting, and the sense of desperate loneliness you can feel even while you’re in a relationship. The appearance of a very different dynamic comes into play with Polly, Felix’s ex, who confesses to him that she always saw the good in him even when he was at his worst, and now that good is going to someone else. Ouch. It’s the classic “I’m the girl a guy dates before he finds the one”.
A moment also for the soundtrack – absolutely no notes here, it’s perfect. We’ve got Fergie to Fiona Apple, some Kacey Musgraves, Miley Cyrus, Suki Waterhouse, and well, obviously, a little Taylor Swift to make losing our favourite hairless dog even harder. Yes, Astrid was tiny, but she was also Bigger Than The Whole Sky.
How does it compare to Girls?
Girls feels like something one would create in their 20s. It’s unhinged, it’s full of problematic decisions, and toxic relationships – and while Too Much is on a similar vein, it takes a safer, sweeter approach to life and love. It’s not quite as wild as Girls, and I wouldn’t call it a love letter to London – I personally couldn’t relate to a lot of the workplace banter for one, and I have yet to see an office party become quite so unhinged, but of course, we’ll allow for some hyperbole. But solid female friendships and how to be a “girl’s girl” is one of my biggest takeaways from the show. In a little nod to Girls, Dunham plays the role of Jessica’s older sister, who is in the middle of a separation from her husband, played by none other than Andrew Rannells), who is, of course, famously her Girls character Hannah Horvath’s ex-boyfriend. (A genius move on Dunham’s part in terms of casting).
Is Too Much the London equivalent of Girls? Not quite. Is it worth watching? For anyone navigating dating in their 30s, or trying to get over a difficult relationship, it’s a nice, breezy series that will get you some laughs and maybe a few tears. The hard bits come out of nowhere and hit you suddenly. It’s also a strong reminder you’re never “too much” for the right person.
