Why You Can Trust CNET 'Mammals' on Prime Video Review: Comedy-Drama Won't Be For Everyone
James Corden stars as a grumpy chef in this curiously bleak comedy about monogamy.
- Best New Journalist 2019 Australian IT Journalism Awards
James Corden plays Jamie in Mammals.
James Corden playing a stressed-out chef could be a coup for Prime Video's Mammals. It could also be a reason to chuck the TV out the window.
The dark comedy drama from acclaimed English playwright Jez Butterworth centers on Corden's Jamie as he opens a new restaurant in London. In real life, the actor and soon-to-be-retired host of the Late Late Show in October apologized to the owner of a New York restaurant. Now, in Mammals, the tables are turned.
Except Mammals isn't really about the restaurant. The at times surreal and jarring show serves unsavory truths behind two different marriages. Their gradual destruction is perversely enjoyable to consume, with Corden fascinating to watch as he grows into a dramatic role. Your mileage on Mammals will probably depend on whether Corden's celebrity persona gets in the way of his character's intriguing predicament.
Melia Kreiling plays Amandine.
A sense of innocent magic is scattered throughout the opening as Corden's Jamie and Amandine (Melia Kreiling) holiday on an idyllic seaside. The married couple look totally in love, but later Jamie is questioned over whether he thinks he's good enough for pregnant Amandine, a femme fatale figure and aspiring violinist from France.
The holiday scenes encapsulate what to expect from the show's peculiar tones. A jaunty version of La Vie en Rose fades as grief and betrayal befall Jamie. Corden is convincing in the meatier aspects of the role as tensions boil over in Jamie's marriage and work. He breezily navigates the show's morbid sense of humor around death, melancholy situations punctuated by lighthearted remarks such as, "Do you want some acid?"
The two main couples: Amandine and Jamie, and Lue and Jeff.
The tonal whiplash stings, even if it reflects how real life often works out. You start to see a pattern of shocking rug pulls in the two main relationships. Jamie's sister Lue (Sally Hawkins) and her husband, Jeff (Colin Morgan), begin to mirror the cracks in Jamie and Amandine's relationship, stirring paranoia. Then there's an odd fantasy sequence -- the magical realism aspect of the show -- as the bored-with-life Lue, obsessed with Coco Chanel, explores her passion to be a fashion designer.
Magic and the impossible are directly linked with the idea of love and archaic monogamy. As the perfect Polaroids begin to melt, every player reveals they're hiding something while simultaneously on a mission to expose the mistakes of others. In other words, these characters aren't the most likable, though their decisions are interestingly unpredictable. The six episodes are short and sweet at under half an hour each.
A character's mysterious identity is dangled throughout, with one final twist shedding new light on the events of the show as a whole. It's attention-grabbing and thought-provoking when the main characters see a giant blue whale in the sea, a mystical-seeming occurrence. The effort to dissect its profundity and metaphor isn't as appealing. The whale isn't the only mammal with primal instincts, a message that seems obvious, though there are even more layers you could sit and chew on.
Mammals is more complex than on first glance, and the same could be said of Corden's dependable performance. The show takes absorbing twists and turns, though its dissection of monogamy doesn't provide any gobsmacking revelations.
Mammals premieres on Prime Video on Friday.
