The Afterparty

The Afterparty is the best of the bunch. Apple TV+’s newest charmer exceeds even the loftiest of expectations as it delivers an uproarious, cleverly crafted murder mystery that’ll leave you wanting more.

I was afraid the “Afterparty” formula might not click the second time around, but it works beautifully once again. You could say season 2 isn’t as finely plotted as season 1 and you wouldn’t be wrong — but ultimately it doesn’t matter. The fun is in the characters and their imaginations, as well as the comic actors who play them.

Given that A-list talent, it’s not as consistently funny as one might expect, but there’s simple joy in watching these people do what they do so well on a program that’s buoyant, funny, and engaging.

A couple of the characters are thinly drawn and not as interesting as the rest of this wacky bunch — but the genre-spoofing is top-tier, done by artists who clearly love the very types of movies they’re satirizing.

The influences are as familiar as Hitchcock and Bridgerton and as art-house specific as Wes Anderson and the Chinese romance In the Mood for Love. [14 Aug - 3 Sep 2023, p.6]

This is enjoyable, steady, perfectly fine. But it is also classic prestige streaming service television, in that it is a little overdone, a little overlong and lacking the touch of ruthlessness that would have made it excellent.

Neither funny nor gripping, intriguing nor moving. ... The result is a surprisingly boring fever dream with glossy production values. If this is the future of television, pass me the bottle.

Love this show. I classic murder mystery with in a modern comedic setting. A lot of fun.

Interesting style, but no interesting substance. Not something I would recommend to murder mystery fans.

After their 15th high school reunion, some of the alum go to the titular celebration at the home of the most famous member of their class (Dave Franco). When he's found dead at the bottom of a seaside cliff, Tiffany Haddish and John Early show up as the detectives to solve the case (they also provide most of the show's funny moments). As she interrogates the various suspects (including Sam Richardson, BenSchwartz and Ilana Gaazer), each one tells their "mind movie" that references a different genre. So far, this includes a black & white art film, a romcom, a Fast & Furious car chase and a musical version that's the only one that kinda works. It's a fun concept that lacks sufficient stylistic punch to set each story apart. The performers often overact to compensate for the writing, which lacks punch. This leaves the situations flat and the reactions frustrating. Christopher Miller, who wrote and directed, is also responsible for more successful comedies like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (my review) and 21 & 22 Jump Street (my review). This is conceptually clever, but doesn't deliver on the potential. (Review is based on the currently-available 3 episodes with more dropping weekly.)

"The Afterparty" (S01, 8 eps, 30+ mins, Apple) is just agonizing to sit through. I suppose they're trying to perform a murder mystery comedy but those two are at odds in this low-budget production. I tried to power through two eps as it beat on me with its slow pacing, stale comedy, man it was just boring! "Game Night" worked much better than this.