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THE PERFECT COUPLE – Review by Susan Granger

Susan Granger , , , , , , , , ,
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A murder mystery really works when you have no idea whodunit until the final episode…and that’s how Netflix’s The Perfect Couple remains compelling.

Opening with the entire cast dancing to Meghan Trainor’s Criminals, the surreal story quickly focuses on extravagant preparations for the wedding of Amelia Sacks (Eve Hewson) and Benji Winbury (Billy Howle) at the magnificent $40 million Winbury oceanfront estate on picturesque Nantucket Island.

Benji is one of three sons of wealthy Tag Winbury (Liev Schreiber) and icy Greer Garrison Winbury (Nicole Kidman), a famous author, who’s about to launch her 20th novel featuring her beloved Dolly and Dash characters – with idealized Dash obviously inspired by Tag.

Unaccustomed to the sense of entitlement that comes with massive WASPy wealth, Amelia’s a naïve outsider, accompanied by her beautiful, flirtatious bestie Merritt Monaco (Meghann Fahy) and middle-class parents, cancer-stricken Karen (Dendrie Taylor) & Bruce (Michael McGrady).

Problem is: the morning after the rehearsal dinner, a body washes up on the white sandy beach.

Upon the arrival of Police Chief Dan Carter (Michael Beach) and Detective Nikki Henry (Donna Lynne Champlin), everyone in this affluent, dysfunctional family becomes a suspect. That includes smarmy eldest son Thomas Winbury (Jack Reynor), his pregnant wife Abby (Dakota Fanning), and youngest Winbury son Will (Sam Nivola).

Plus there’s best man Shooter Dival (Ishaan Khattar), family friend Isabel Nallet (Isabelle Adjani) and observant housekeeper Gosia (Irina Dubova).

Based on Elin Hilderbrand’s 2018 novel, the escapist wedding-weekend-gone-wrong plot that propels this complicated, fast-paced thriller is deftly guided by showrunner Jenna Lamia and director Susanne Bier.

Once again, Nicole Kidman embodies a brittle, bitter matriarch – not dissimilar to her pained roles in HBO’s “Big Little Lies” and Amazon’s “Expats” – as Liev Schreiber plays her philandering, pothead husband to the hilt. While Eve Hewson (U2’s Bono’s real-life daughter) scored in “Behind Her Eyes” & “Bad Sisters,” her smirking quickly becomes quite tiresome.

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, The Perfect Couple is a snarky, scandalous 7 – with all six binge-ready episodes streaming on Netflix.

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Susan Granger

Susan Granger is a product of Hollywood. Her natural father, S. Sylvan Simon, was a director and producer at R.K.O., M.G.M. and Columbia Pictures; her adoptive father, Armand Deutsch, produced movies at M.G.M. As a child, Susan appeared in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Margaret O'Brien and Lassie. She attended Mills College in California, studying journalism with Pierre Salinger, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism. During her adult life, Susan has been on radio and television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic. Her newspaper reviews have been syndicated around the world, and she has appeared on American Movie Classics cable television. In addition, her celebrity interviews and articles have been published in REDBOOK, PLAYBOY, FAMILY CIRCLE, COSMOPOLITAN, WORKING WOMAN and THE NEW YORK TIMES, as well as in PARIS MATCH, ELLE, HELLO, CARIBBEAN WORLD, ISLAND LIFE, MACO DESTINATIONS, NEWS LIMITED NEWSPAPERS (Australia), UK DAILY MAIL, UK SUNDAY MIRROR, DS (France), LA REPUBBLICA (Italy), BUNTE (Germany), VIP TRAVELLER (Krisworld) and many other international publications through SSG Syndicate. Susan also lectures on the "Magic and Mythology of Hollywood" and "Don't Take It Personally: Conquering Criticism and other Survival Skills," originally published on tape by Dove Audio.