SERIES PREMIERE:
This is not a recommendation. Revenge creator/producer Mike Kelley created this new Netflix anthology series, which in its opening cycle takes the basic premise of
Indecent Proposal, switches the genders, and expands the story by about four times. Jane Levy and Blake Jenner play the attractive young couple approached by a meddling tycoon, who offers a life-changing sum in exchange for being able to sleep with one of the married people for one night. The twist is, this time it’s a woman, played by Renee Zellweger, who’s the predatory rich person, and she wishes to sleep with the husband. Get past that gender reversal, though, and the first handful of hours of
What/If slog by – not enough character development, surprises, or even sensuality to make it worthwhile. Zellweger is playing against type, a bit impressively, in this role, but if
What/If is to succeed as an anthology series, it most likely will be because of subsequent story arcs. Oh, but the fashions and set designs are appropriately lush, if you care about such things.
For a full review, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower.