The Kominsky Method

Lorre achieves a deeply personal best in this lovingly crafted, wise and wisecrackingly bittersweet bromance between a legendary acting coach (Michael Douglas) and his powerful Hollywood agent (Alan Arkin). [12-25 Nov 2018, p.10]

Their salty banter can't help but conjure echoes from the stars' glamourous Hollywood heyday. And guess what? They've still got it. [7 - 20 Jun 2021, p.7]

For the most part, however, Lorre’s sense of humor stings and zings, in ways that both honor and broaden his sitcom achievements. If there’s a joke to be had, Lorre will make it; in this case, that sort of predictability is reassuring and enjoyable. The show is snarky but personable, with most of the pleasure coming from Arkin and Douglas’s expert depiction of that rarest of things--a frank and honest friendship between two men.

The series pairs Michael Douglas with Alan Arkin, perhaps the finest streaming comedy team-up since, well, matching Jane Fonda with Lily Tomlin. As acting coach Sandy Kominsky, Douglas easily slides into the role of a man whose tried his best to make a career out of his craft.

There is no shortage of chuckles along the way, but the hit-and-miss nature of the writing keeps the series from staying on track as it heads for moments both humorous and poignant.

While Douglas and Arkin are playing messy, intelligent, believably flawed human beings, they live in a world mostly populated by dumb, goofy stereotypes for whom they exhibit either dehumanizing objectivity or outright disdain. All of Sandy’s students are idiots, except for an older woman named Lisa (Nancy Travis), whom he wants to date.

Because Kominsky is so blue and so tin-eared, when it tries to draw close to anything resembling real human emotion, it emotionally founders then sinks without a trace. ... Creaky and leaky.

This show presents raw human experience like no other. The characters of Norman and Sandy, though old and working through issues that come with age, are relatable, funny and emotionally engaging. I couldn't help but laugh and cry at nearly every episode across the three seasons. Each actor throughout the series was masterful in their performance and the cinematography was expert in exemplifying the themes of each scene and episode. A must watch.

When relieved of a broadcast network's many constraints, showrunners often make the mistake of lacking restraint when they come to cable or streaming networks to do a series. In other words, they take what is essentially a network series and just make it profane. Wisely, Chuck Lorre resisted that temptation and created a series that is both heartfelt and funny without being unnecessarily crude or vulgar. "The Kominsky Method" is essentially a "bromance" between two men over 70 years of age that are grappling with life when the days ahead are far fewer than the days behind. The issues that they are dealing with are many including loss, health, sex (or lack thereof) and family. It's moving without being cloying and has a fair share of laughs. The chemistry between Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin is fantastic with good support from Sarah Baker, Nancy Travis, Lisa Edelstein, and the rest of the cast. One can nitpick here and there, but overall a very enjoyable show.

Great series, well acted, well written, perfectly balances drama and comedy, the perfect show, I could watch hours of it.

As already stated above, too “woke” for me.. for some reason they can’t help themselves from always going political.

So, in the first episode of Season 2 there's a scene in which Don Lemon of CNN is trashing the president and Mike Douglas's character chimes in that he's a sociopath. It had nothing to do with anything in the show except to project hate. As if Hollywood doesn't have enough problems of their own without their pompous, arrogant, political viewpoints. I stopped the show and am not watching it anymore. For the people who produce the show and are too stupid to realize that type of thing could happen, I hope you're happy.