"Starstruck" is a VERY cute, VERY funny romcom series
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Being Canadian, I haven’t had much exposure to New Zealand comedian Rose Matafeo beyond her appearance on series 9 of Taskmaster. But given that Ontario is still pretty much in lockdown and I have another week before my second vaccine protection fully kicks in, I needed something to watch, and I landed on Starstruck, Matafeo’s new BBC/HBO Max sitcom. And I’m so glad I did! IT’S VERY CUTE!
Created by Matafeo and Alice Snedden, the first series of Starstruck is just six episodes of 22 minutes each, so it won’t surprise you that I banged out all of them in an evening. The show is about Jessie (Matafeo), a 28-year-old working multiple low-paying jobs, living in London with her roommate and best friend Kate, and enjoying having fun, consequence-free hookups with people. On New Year’s Eve, she ends up sleeping with a guy named Tom (Nikesh Patel), only to discover the morning after that he’s Tom Kipoor, a Pretty Famous Movie Actor.
Set over the course of a year, the six episodes do include quite a lot of misunderstandings and crossed wires between Jessie and Tom, as they keep meeting each other, having very strong chemistry, and then getting separated for one reason or another, until the next time. And if this series were longer than six episodes, that would get VERY annoying! But luckily 1) it’s just enough episodes and set over a long enough period of time that it’s believable and not totally annoying, and 2) Matafeo is UTTERLY charming and hilarious, and she’s a delight to watch.
Matafeo and Snedden’s scripts are truly funny and thoughtful, and even with just a few episodes, they give their characters room to breathe and just be with each other. On top of that, Matafeo and Patel have some VERY excellent chemistry, and you totally see why they like each other and why they’d want to make their relationship work. (And it doesn’t hurt that Matafeo and Patel are both absolute babes.) A show like this fails if you don’t like the romantic leads separately and together, and Starstruck starstrikes that balance perfectly.
Honestly, the six eps went by way too fast for me, and I already want more — happily, it’s already been renewed for a second series, and if the end of the first is any indication, it’ll be handling their relationship in new and more interesting ways. I can’t wait to see more of Starstruck and of Matafeo in general.
Starstruck is on Crave in Canada, HBO Max in the US, and on BBC in the UK.
That’s all for me today, gorgeous. Talk to you soon.
Love,
Kat