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Based on the novel of the same name by Alissa Nutting, who co-created the series,
Made for Love is a darkly comedic new look at a domesticated housewife caught in a binding marriage, with Cristin Milioti playing a dissatisfied spouse who discovers that her husband of 10 years monitors everything in her life. Co-starring Billy Magnussen, Dan Bakkedahl, Noma Dumezweni, and Ray Romano, this HBO Max exclusive is an intriguing blend of comedy, sci-fi, and horror, and it gives its talented ensemble room to shine. If you re wondering where you ve seen the
Made for Love cast before, we re here to offer our humble assistance. This is where you might recognize these familiar stars.
The pair play spouses Hazel and Byron Gogol, who have more than a few communication issues.
As the author of the novel upon which the show is based, itâs clear she knows a thing or two about these characters. âWe really wanted this juxtaposition, not only between drama and comedy but between the hub and the desert,â she adds of using landscape to help convey the skewed state of this universe.
A woman who wants out of her long-term relationship with husband Byron after he puts a chip in her head â it shares her every thought with him â Hazel is torn between returning to the dull and destitute (and very luxurious) world he plucked her from, or moving on. âShe really is figuring that out. So I think that that balance was something that Christina [Lee] and I really intentionally wanted to strike as we were writing,â Nutting adds.
As for the charactersâ motivations, itâs clear theyâre all being haunted by certain demons, whether itâs Byronâs wealthy roots or Hazelâs past family tragedy involving the loss of her mother. âI think all of the characters are sort of surprising in a way because they all have behaviors or make choices that arenât the best ones and yet you sort of understand all of them,â Lee explains. âAnd it was important for us in our approach of developing these characters that even when theyâre doing bad things that you empathize with them.â
That surely could be the case when it comes to Byronâs employees, Lyle Herringbone (Dan Bakkedahl) and Bennett Hobbs (Caleb Foote), who often do dirty deeds, but who win us over with their humanity (and their humor).
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Sometimes, parts of a TV show are charming enough to distract you from its faults . . . or the plot s subtext.
HBO Max s Made For Love is such a case, a feather-light black comedy about a disillusioned wife attempting to escape her smothering husband. Its premise has taken a thousand and one shapes over the years by way of sitcoms, Lifetime women-in-peril flicks or dystopian trifles.
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Alissa Nutting s 2017 novel inspired this fast-paced tale, which is energized by winning performances from Cristin Milioti and, further into the season, Ray Romano. Nevertheless Made For Love never manages to ascend beyond something more than conventional buddies-on-the-run comedy within the four episodes made available to review.