There’s nothing like when a favorite piece of fiction comes to the big or small screen and its actually good. That’s why I was over the moon this morning to wake up to the critics’ of Netflix’s latest series The Perfect Couple starring none other than Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber. The new thriller hit the Netflix schedule today and should be one of the more interesting new projects heading to streaming the week of September 2-8.
Listen, not only do I love when Kidman signs on for a thriller, I’m also excited this got six episodes rather than a small screen movie. Netflix has a reasonably good track record when it comes to adapting books – OK I’m mostly thinking of the installments in the Bridgerton series – and this is a doozy of a book.
If you are unfamiliar with Elin Hilderbrand, the author writes more-complicated-than-average beach reads set in Nantucket, she's a delight. The Perfect Couple’s a Top 3 book of hers for me (my favorite has to be 28 Summers followed by Golden Girl). I found her a couple of years ago and have plowed through several dozen books over the past couple of years, so this new 2024 book-to-screen adaptation is really timely, and I probably would have watched even if they were mediocre, frankly but they’re not!
Full disclosure: I haven’t watched it yet. I didn’t want screeners or to get up in the middle of the night to start binge-watching the series because I wanted something to enjoy this weekend. But from what other critics are saying, I’m in for a treat.
The Critics Like That Nicole Kidman Is Doing Something Different
A wedding is at the focal point of The Perfect Couple. In the limited series, Kidman plays Greer, a famous novelist and the mother of the groom. She can be feisty and mean-spirited, and honestly, the critics are loving it. EW’s Kristen Baldwin is particularly enthusiastic.
Kidman has been tormented, aggrieved, angry, sure — but just plain mean? Never. It’s a hoot to watch her embrace Greer’s underlying nastiness, which naturally stems from a Deep Dark Secret not even her family knows.
The Chicago Tribune’s Nina Metz also confirms Kidman is on her a-game here playing a rich and wealthy mother who dislikes outsiders (though her kid is about to marry one) and who is used to keeping up appearances.
Kidman is at the top of her game here as a regal, glorious snob who is unflappable, but wound so tight she just might snap. She’s a famous writer of murder mysteries (ironic!) and she’s the one who makes this lifestyle possible.
Can’t wait.
Plenty Of Critics Are Having Fun With The Perfect Couple’s Plot, Too
In fact, my favorite piece about how fun The Perfect Couple is came from The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan, who also speaks well of Donna Lynne Champlin as Det Nikki Henry and makes one bold claim about fruit baskets.
The Perfect Couple has a proper plot – and some to spare. The carousel of suspects turns and reveals drop at perfectly spaced intervals; if there is anyone who can resist binge-ing all six episodes once they have started, I will eat a fruit basket.
A few outlets refer to The Perfect Couple as “trash,” which honestly sounds not-so-great. However, even then they are talking about it being "trash," they are often saying it in a positive way, which makes sense given the general plot of the book (though I’ll say it’s beautifully written by Hilderbrand). The Telegraph's Benji Wilson uses the word "ludicrously" a lot but writes:
The Perfect Couple is trash but it is top-notch trash, a show aiming only for sugar-hit moreishness and hitting the mark in almost every scene. Nantucket looks ludicrously beautiful; the family are ludicrously snobbish and unpleasant, and yet try as you might, you will want to know the who, what, where and why-dunit. As summer gives up trying and the nights close in, The Perfect Couple is the perfect winter warmer: a potboiler for the purists.
A few folks didn’t seem to enjoy The Perfect Couple, with Indiewire giving it a C-, but in general the crowd seems ripe for this sort of thriller to be hitting the 2024 TV schedule. I mean, who doesn’t enjoy watching the rich and idle deal with crime on a wedding weekend? As long as it’s good enough to be a guilty pleasure, it’s good enough for me.
