Already being compared to Sex and the City, Girls is the hottest new feminine comedy out there; but can it really be compared to SATC? We get a boy and a girl’s point of view from Isobel Miller and Harry Wise.
Isobel says:
Whether it’s a guilty pleasure or an obsession, it’s hard to say no to a bit of Sex and the City. And on paper, Girls, a new American series about four twenty-somethings trying to make it in New York City could seem like an attempt to relive the hey-day fame of the original foursome. But actually, whilst the premise is similar, the show itself has a more down to earth feel, and although Girls isn’t yet a classic, it’s surprisingly addictive and at moments, very funny.
The show’s creator is Lena Dunhamm, who plays the aspiring writer and somewhat socially awkward Hannah Horvath. Her life appears to be a series of uncomfortable moments strung together by tweeting about them. The funniest moments though come when she meets up with an ex to tell him about a suspected STD and instead finds out that he is, and has always been, gay, and ruins a job interview which is going surprisingly well by making jokes about her potential boss being a date rapist and admitting that her ‘small baggage’ would be that she just bought four cupcakes and ate one in her friend’s bathroom.
The group is made up of Lena’s flat-mate Marnie, the glamorous, if high-maintenance one, whose biggest complaint is that her boyfriend is ‘too nice’, Jessa, the hippy ‘pot’ smoker who is working as a babysitter and fails to turn up for her abortion – “there’s nothing flakier than failing to turn up for your own abortion”, according to Marnie, and Shoshanna, the annoying one, who has to reveal that she is still a virgin.
Opening with two awkward but amusing sex-scenes, this series is, graphically, not going to over-glamorize. There are moments which, whilst uncomfortable, are undeniably easy to relate to, and for me, Girls definitely has potential to become regular guilty viewing.
Harry says:
Maybe it’s because I’m a teenage heterosexual male, but what’s all this hype surrounding Girls? No not girls, the people who we think are the better half of the human race, but the Lena Dunham comedy about four twenty-something college-educated women struggling to get by in New York. They work low-paying jobs, have crappy sex with strange boyfriends and take opium which “tastes like twigs.” Essentially, it’s Sex And The City crossed with Accessorize on a Saturday afternoon.
Dunham, who is not only the main character but the creator, writer and director, can be given credit for the four Emmy nominations already in the bag.
And it does accurately reflect life in post-recession America, In the first episode, Lena’s character ranks the different forms of communication, condemning texting and Facebook in favour of face-to-face chat, even if “it’s not of this time”.
However, for a guy, there is little humorous about the show. It just seemed to be trying hard not to try hard. It may be a very original concept, but it lacked the necessary wit to make it enjoyable.
The awkward sex scenes really are incredibly bizarre. You’re supposed to find them comical and not saucy, but there was no comedy. The first episode sees Hannah and her boyfriend have a particularly inelegant and neurotic sex scene and all you get out of it is sympathy for the actors who had to be in such an unengaging scene.
Alright, Harry you’re a bloke. You probably weren’t ever going to enjoy this as much as the girls. But it really was a fail on the boys-front. Still, if you girls end up anything like Lena, good luck to you.
Girls is on HBO on Monday at 10pm.