Totally Completely Fine 2023 Tv Series Review Trailer Cast Crew

 Is a deranged, despondent, and possibly suicidal person in a good position to help others who are at risk, because they can relate to them? This challenging and possibly problematic idea emerges in Stan's six-part series Totally Completely Fine, starring Thomasin McKenzie as a cheeky twenty-something who drinks, smokes pot, takes illicit substances, and…inherits beachfront property! The circumstances are sad: the house is bequeathed to McKenzie's character, Vivian, by her recently deceased grandfather. But digs are pretty sweet. There's a catch, though: Located meters from a cliff, the property regularly attracts people thinking of finishing it.

Grandpa saved many lives by talking to strangers and inviting them in for a cuppa. Will Vivian do the same? Totally Completely Fine is hardly an archetype, but its hero's journey is as apparent as any story about warriors or hobbits: a reluctant protagonist initially rejects a call to adventure, before embarking on the quest.

Stars: Rowan Witt, Contessa Treffone, Lexie Hallett

In the first episode, Vivian saves a runaway bride, Amy (Contessa Treffone), through rather rough methods: she introduces herself yelling "Oi!" then asking, "What the hell are you doing?" It's not exactly a peer-reviewed counseling method. The obvious question is whether the protagonist will be given a new purpose by helping others. But strangely, the series more or less strays from this interesting premise and chooses to focus on Vivian's relationships with friends, family, and lovers.

We soon discover there's tension between Vivian and her high-strung gay brother John (Rowan Witt), whose vegan food truck recently burned down after smoking a bacon-flavored vape. Her other brother Hendrix (Brandon McClelland) is more tolerant of her loud ways.

McKenzie, who excellently portrayed the haunted, vacant-eyed protagonist of Edgar Wright's thriller Last Night in Soho, imbues the title role with an irresistible, slightly dangerous and volatile energy, as if parts of her psyche could snap at any moment. . . Visually, the show also hits at Vivian's psyche, inserting visions of her from her past into quickly edited sequences that borrow horror movie syntax and scream "THIS PERSON IS IN TROUBLE." The cuts mean more than the images, reiterating the psychological instability. But as the series progresses, a more complete picture of her past traumas is formed.

Totally Completely Fine returns to these images in a circular focus that moves around various settings rather than furthering the plot. Creator Gretel Vella builds into the show's premise the opportunity for a continual variety of heightened dramatic settings and engaging characters. But the story distracts from its main idea: Vivian rises to the challenge and saves lives, as if the writers just forget about it and move on.

Attempts to create a lightness to the touch sometimes give poor results. A scene from the second episode shows Vivian's psychologist neighbor Dane (Devon Terrell) teaching her and Amy how to deal with suicidal ideation. But he feels tonally off, as if he's channeling the uplifting spirit of a movie training montage. "Jump, this is your ledge!" Dane says, pointing to the base of a disused fountain, before asking them to run to the front door, that he has a hand-drawn image of a phone taped to it. "Come on, come on, faster, faster!" He shouts.

Darker items can also be iffy. His description of his trauma, through Vivian's flashbacks, feels too simplistic, all directions pointing to a formative incident. Even Dane would disapprove! The traumatic incident in question "didn't make you like that," he tells Vivian. "You choose how you are." We have a character saying one thing, while the show's form and structure communicate another: a strange schism in the writing that is never reconciled.

Eventually, as the dramas trickle down, the settings become embarrassingly gimmicky and on the nose, with a stretch in the last episode that wouldn't look—or sound, given the maudlin dialogue—out of place in a cheesy rom-com. Hollywood. For a much better mix of provocative comedy and spiky drama, check out the underappreciated 2021 series The End, which wittily explores the theme of assisted dying. Unlike Totally Completely Fine, it never loses sight of its premise, or what sets it apart from countless other productions.

Watch Totally Completely Fine 2023 Tv Series Trailer