Lena Dunham has always been something of a romantic. The often harsh realism with which she has depicted the realm of dating and sexual exploration, in projects ranging from Girls to Sharp Stick, has never detracted from those romantic sensibilities. And that vibe is exactly what Too Much, her new Netflix series co-created with her husband, Luis Felber, allows her to indulge.
Coming across as a loosely autobiographical depiction of the relationship between Dunham and Felber, the series features Megan Stalter and Will Sharpe as Jessica and Felix, who fall into a relationship while navigating their pre-existing emotional baggage. Though Jessica’s history is established from the get-go—with the series opening on a ridiculous break-in to her ex’s place and confrontation with his new influencer girlfriend—Too Much deliberately takes its time revealing Felix’s past alongside his growth as a character.
The beauty of Too Much comes in the way that, much like any good romantic comedy, it allows its protagonists to fail and flourish often, and its extended length as a series gives these beats a chance to breathe rather than being limited to a feature film. And Jessica, much like Bridget Jones and other romcom characters that she’s lightly modeled on, is the ideal point of entry for the audience. As competent as she is in her career as a line producer, she’s also something of a fuck-up who has to move across the Atlantic (from New York to London) just to escape her broken life, and her insecurities about dating have her recording private videos on Instagram dedicated to the woman living with her ex.
At its most poignant, Too Much really nails the sheer frustration of being told you’re “too much” or “messy,” as well as the elation a person feels when they are finally validated by someone else. Rather than embrace fantasia (a few cutaways to characters dressed like they’re in Grease or Bridgerton as the exception), Dunham and Felber aren’t afraid to tackle heavier beats, like navigating abortion, assault, sobriety, and the way that we, as insecure human beings, can often self-harm even when we’re in good places in our lives. Like the most engaging televisual romantic comedies that came before it (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, for instance), it’s that dichotomy between the realism of the world and our romantic expectations that Too Much thrives on, making all its jokes about the idiotic expectation of London being a land of Jane Austen stories coming to life all the more amusing.
Many episodes come across as though Jessica is barfing her emotions and inanities onto those around her, to delightful effect, with a rotating cast of supporting characters that Stalter exquisitely bounces off. The best of these are the women of her family, played by Rhea Perlman as her grandmother, Rita Wilson as her mother, and Dunham herself as her sister. Scenes with the four women together in a room (sometimes accompanied by others) are the closest the series ever gets to outright screwball comedy, with all of the actresses flawlessly coming across as familial and nailing the jokes scripted for them. It’s almost a crime that they aren’t as present in the series as they could be, but that wouldn’t serve the series well. In fact, pointing out every pitch-perfect guest spot is nearly impossible, with nary a misstep on a performative level when it comes to the show’s tonal bounces between comedy and drama.
Largely directed by Dunham (with Janicza Bravo deftly helming a chaotic wedding and Alicia MacDonald a heartbreaking turn for the Jessica/Felix relationship), there’s a clear sense of her knack for comic timing and cutting emotion in Too Much. Perhaps the most noticeable oddity with the series is the way the distinct visual sensibilities of her films and Girls feel watered down by an adherence to the Netflix house style. The way the show often tries to cut back to ancillary characters as though the series has always been a Love Actually-style ensemble is jarring at times, purely because Dunham’s focus on the protagonists doesn’t allow for a number of those dramatic beats for the less-seen players to land as well as they should. This isn’t to say they don’t largely serve the show well, with Emily Ratajkowski, Naomi Watts, Kaori Momoi, Adèle Exarchopoulos, and Janicza Bravo (among many others, sorry to the men) all turning in great work and unique characterization, however brief their time on screen may be by comparison to its leads.
But everything on Too Much comes back to Stalter and Sharpe as the heart and soul of the series. Stalter’s comic sensibilities fall in line with Dunham’s perfectly and they both know precisely how to navigate the more vulnerable moments required of them, even when split apart by narrative requirements. Sharpe challenges the sort of shallow affectations one might expect from an indie musician, instead revealing a deeper fractured soul of a man, with the show’s seventh episode (“Terms Of Resentment,” which largely covers his family history) serving as an excellent showcase beyond their shared beats.
Most essential is the palpable chemistry between the two actors, something missing from most romances these days that believe it’s enough to just have two hot people speak at each other. Stalter and Sharpe come across like people who actually want to fuck, who want to learn about each other, who don’t want to fight but end up doing so anyway, and who can go from laughing to crying in the span of a few minutes, with the show’s third episode boxing the pair in an apartment for a sleepless night of playful and emotional banter that perfectly depicts their dynamic. Like the best episodes of Girls that focus on the minutiae of a single encounter, “Ignore Sunrise” is an excellent half-hour of television that highlights everything one needs to know about their relationship while simultaneously hitting all the traditional romance moments that one expects.
Too Much isn’t just the kind of short and sweet series that Netflix should be prioritizing, but a testament to Dunham’s strength as a creative and someone who understands the tropes she’s engaging in and, to some extent, challenging. That the series manages to be as funny as it is while also reveling in sincerity and folly is what makes it so engaging. More than anything, Dunham and Felber know that no matter how ridiculous life can get and no matter how frustrating people can be, everything comes back to the beauty of human connection.
