Critic Reviews

Dollface gives viewers one of the coolest experiences of all: watching someone find their passion. This season is littered with little moments like these, honest parts of everyday life that only feel profound because we never see them portrayed.

Ultimately, the series really works because of the strong performances. ... Dollface leans into Dennings’ innate charms. She’s a great everywoman trying to navigate the tricky landscape of female friendships in your twenties.

The simplicity of Dollface doesn't make the show any less fun, although this slenderly conceived comedy vehicle for "2 Broke Girls" star Kat Dennings could easily have landed on a conventional broadcast network. As is, it's a nice addition to Hulu's lineup of originals, and a whole lot less depressing than "The Handmaid's Tale."

Intended as a modern comic spin on Ibsen's A Doll's House, Dollface is funny enough, though it mostly misses the feminist boat. It more closely resembles a little-watched FXX surrealist comedy of sexual manners called Man Seeking Woman, in which clueless characters conversed regularly with their own ids as they plotted blundering romantic strategy.

Dollface remains energetic—and exuberantly weird—throughout the season. ... Her friends eventually get their own plots, setting up a versatile hangout comedy with the potential to outlive the initial breakup storyline. If only the show’s tone and characters felt more consistent across episodes, once other screenwriters are in the mix.

These surreal asides are fun and cheeky, and they sometimes skewer the dumb social constraints of being a woman. But they are also frustratingly imprecise, and when the show goes too long without one, the emotional blankness of Jules’s world becomes too apparent.

In our age of specialized, personalized entertainment, there are less pleasant propositions than the offer of spending time with an ephemeral half-hour starring a team of actors who demonstrate crisp comedic timing and manage to be engaging despite the show's average scripts.

Dollface can be frustratingly overdrawn, without the painful precision of PEN15 or radically empathetic heart of Shrill, both fellow Hulu shows similarly interrogating millennial womanhood.

The bar is named The Gi Spot and all of these fun and ”feminine” features are indicative of everything wrong with Dollface’s unfortunate second season. Cringeworthy and shallow, there’s nothing compelling or thought-provoking here.

The entire cast of Dollface, right down to a tremendous string of guest actors, is so great that the prevailing feelings watching the first season's 10 half-hour episodes are occasional mirth and consistent certainty that they could all be put to better use.