Loot review – Maya Rudolph brings billion dollar laughs to Apple TV+
There’s no question that Apple TV+ has moved from being a relatively slow starter in the streaming market to being one of the most exciting and dynamic services out there. In recent months they have released a string of really high-quality hit shows from Ben Stiller’s Severance to The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey with Samuel L Jackson – and that’s before we start talking about Pachinko and Slow Horses, We Crashed and Shining Girls.
However, all of these titles have been filed under drama, and so we’ve been waiting a while to see what Apple’s next big comedy like Loot might look like. After the huge success of Ted Lasso, which has won awards and fans all over the world for its feel-good comedy vibes, it’s good to see another comedy coming online from the streaming giant.
Loot stars Maya Rudolph as Molly Novak, a billionaire who is married to a tech CEO played by Adam Scott. The story begins as we’re introduced to their opulent world on her birthday as she receives n enormous new yacht from her husband before a fabulous party kicks off in the biggest hillside / seaside house you have ever seen. I mean really, it’s the sort of place that would turn the heads of the Selling Sunset crew. But as just another billionaire’s party is getting started, a Molly discovers that her husband has been having an affair with a younger woman, and the marriage soon becomes yesterday’s news.
You can see our video review below, and more like this on YouTube.
Indeed, the divorce and huge settlement is far more than yesterday’s news because Molly ends up with many, many billions of dollars and becomes one of the richest women in America. But what next? What is her purpose? Well, it turns out she doesn’t really have one – and so we follow her through a self-destructive binge of travel, drink and drugs as she looks to find answers. All this while she becomes more and more of a focus of the attention of America’s media, something that attracts the attention of the woman who runs her charitable foundation, Sofia Salinas (Michaela Jaé Rodriguez).
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As it turns out, Molly didn’t know she had a charitable foundation, and therefore had no idea that the bad press was casting a shadow across it. But to the horror of Sofia, Molly begins to try to find some purpose in her life by beginning to get heavily involved in the workings of this charity – and to throw herself into giving something back. The downside being that she isn’t very good at any of those things because she’s spent the last few decades living in an ivory tower of a billionaire.
And so the story of Loot begins. This is a show about world’s colliding, about money, power dynamics and the human condition. It’s a comedy that is filled with heart, but also with plenty of satirical streaks to it, lampooning the super rich and providing plenty of comment on the behaviours of the rich and famous.
The show is held together by a very strong performance from the wonderfully talented May Rudolph who makes Molly’s character just out of touch enough and lacking just the right amount of self awareness to keep the comedy rolling through some at times far fetched situations. Joined by a great cast including Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Joel Kim Booster who plays Moly’s assistant Nicolas and Ron Funches who plays cousin Howard, this is a comedy that will make you laugh. Now of course that is always the intention of comedy, but it’s surprising how many don’t consistently get the tone right once they begin to travel through a season.
If you’re looking for a new comedy with a fun premise and a lot of laughs, try Loot on Apple TV+ and you’ll be laughing all the way to the bank (well, at least to the sofa)…
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