Critic Reviews

The fixation is really on her [Gemma Arterton's] performance in the astonishing “Funny Woman,” a sort of sitcom about a sitcom and a beautiful woman’s triumph over presumptions about beautiful women. Set in the ’60s, it is, in a sense, a reverse “Mrs. Maisel.” It is also one of the more surprising things to find on PBS.

Like thigh-high go-go boots, there is only so far something like the ’60s-era showbiz comedy “Funny Woman” can go before its joyousness ankles, as they say in the trades. The good news about season 2 is that the Britcom has plateaued, figuratively speaking, just above the knee. .... “Funny Woman” is Ms. Arterton’s show, and counter to many shows built around a principal character—those in which the comedy relies on supporting players—Sophie is the funniest person in whatever room the show finds itself.

It tuts at the misogyny of the grotesque beauty contest boss, and of the entitled married man who thinks a shop assistant is his own personal prey; but it also carries a fondness for the spirit of the era that, realistically or not, Barbara manages to tame for her own purposes. It’s TV as comfort food, and I was happily sated by it.

Arterton has great comic timing and brings a lot of vim to the role. But the script is undercooked and uneven, which rests on the old-fashioned idea that a Northern accent is intrinsically funny.

The dialogue is knowingly pastichey, which is unfortunately not something all of the cast have the confidence to carry off. But if the show feels less than the sum of its parts, there’s something in its celebration of a plucky, bold heroine, in the vein of The Marvellous Mrs Maisel, that feels comforting, like a warm hug.

The Marvelous Mrs Maisel trod similar ground: a woman being funny! In the olden days! But that show had a much snappier script. The charm of Funny Woman rests on Arterton, who makes the six episodes worth watching.

Can a drama be enjoyable and a bit ropey at the same time? Funny Woman shows that it can.

Rather than a compelling character study, it now resembles a classy soap: the storylines driving the action along feel superficial and tacked on. The result is a comedy-drama as obviously contrived as the old-school sitcoms it eulogises.

It’s easy to like Sophie, played with nuclear-strength moxie by Arterton, but even allowing for the times, there’s no buying into the central conceit of her as a raw, trailblazing comic talent – however much everyone around her keeps hammily insisting so.

Funny Woman isn’t as strong as The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, but it’s not without charm.