‘Too Much' Review: Lena Dunham Returns with a Brash, Big-Hearted, and Oddly Conventional Rom-Com

Yahoo

10-07-2025

'Too Much' opens on a slew of red flags. The very first shot is of London's Tower Bridge, accompanied by Fergie's 2006 song, 'London Bridge.' Walking over said bridge is our lead, Jess (Meg Stalter), whose stylish star turn (zebra-stripe winter coat, star-laden vintage bookbag) is marred by her extraneous voiceover. That's two big warning signs in the opening seconds of Lena Dunham's first TV series since 'Camping,' and they're promptly followed up by a third: when Jess imagines herself as the different kinds of women known to thrive in the United Kingdom: Jane Austen-era heroines who are hopelessly in love; hardened police detectives 'who use [their] trauma to solve grisly crimes'; and turn-of-the-century sex workers who will go down in the history books as one of Jack the Ripper's victims.
Thankfully, the majority of these storytelling crutches dwindle as 'Too Much' settles in. The soundtrack shifts toward lighter indie rock and away from brain-numbing redundancies, while the story treats those imaginary genre sketches like an accidental off-ramp left in the rearview. But the voiceover continues. Not only does it continue, it intensifies, along with the surrounding events. As they slowly swirl into a tornado of personal excess, Jess learns an important fact of perception: One person's red flags may just be flags to someone else — unheeded warnings that, in time, prove to be utterly unnecessary. You can see them and run for shelter, sure, or you can simply see where the breeze takes you.
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'Too Much' will certainly inspire a few Netflix subscribers to retreat to the stock solace of 'Emily in Paris' or 'Nobody Wants This,' but like the algorithmically calculated intro it soon subverts, Dunham's latest pulls off a tricky balancing act: giving audiences what we expect from a TV rom-com, as well as what we don't always get.
The familiar aspects are surprising, if only because Dunham's semi-autobiographical series is from, you know, the creator of 'Girls' — a landmark HBO comedy hailed for bucking conventions, expectations, and whatever else you wanted to throw at it. Co-created with her husband, Luis Felber, 'Too Much' fits snugly within those confines, following a young Brooklyn producer, Jess, who moves to London and falls in love with an aspiring musician named Felix (Will Sharpe). The premiere episode sets up its love story rather quickly, from Jess' grievous break-up with Zev (Michael Zegen, well-versed with the despised ex as the former Mr. Maisel), who she dated for seven years, to her job opportunity in London, where she'll oversee a commercial directed by an acclaimed yet pretentious filmmaker (a beautifully sleazy Andrew Scott).
Despite her eagerness to embrace life across the pond, Jess can't leave her baggage behind. Shortly before she flees overseas, she breaks into Zev's house in the middle of the night to demand he apologize for their grievous break-up 'in blood.' Luckily, she's all talk — Jess has never met an awkward silence she can't fill with an inappropriate comment, even when (as is often the case) she's the one who brought about the initial awkwardness — but that loquacity becomes its own problem. Jess cannot stop talking to Wendy, Zev's model-hot new girlfriend (played by the actual model, Emily Ratajkowski). She hate-watches Wendy's influencer videos about fashion or hears her voice in her head and then slinks off to a bathroom or quiet corner to yell at Wendy in the style of Gen-Z: via video.
Jess' videos (which she posts to a private Instagram feed) form the basis for her aforementioned voiceover. She 'talks to Wendy' all the time — at home, at work, when she's out with her friends or in the middle of a date — and she's only getting angrier, despite a pretty good start to her time in London town, from her job to her friends to her love life. Her co-workers conveniently share her tendency to over-share, whether it's Boss (Leo Reich), an absurdly cocky assistant who brags about his 'acclaimed PDF novel'; Kim (Janicza Bravo), a narcissist and fellow New Yorker who's so in love with England she claims not to remember her time in the U.S.; and Jonno (Richard E. Grant), Jess' actual boss who throws cocaine-fueled dance parties in Notting Hill — for his employees.
To say they're a like-minded group is an understatement (and their overlapping romantic issues only double down on Dunham's struggle to imagine characters outside her own bubble), but the lively group supports Jess' journey just fine (and Grant is a particular treat, along with Naomi Watts as his desperate housewife). Jess' family, whom she leaves behind in Long Island but who pop in via FaceTime and flashbacks, is also an invaluable treat. Rita Wilson (as Jess' mom, Lois), Rhea Pearlman (Grandma Dottie), and Dunham, as the recently dumped Nora, all make it clear where Jess comes from — and why she should be proud of what she now calls 'an intergenerational 'Grey Gardens' hell of single women.'
Better still, on her first night abroad, Jess meets Felix. (Yes, on the first night! My god!) He's performing in a local pub, she likes his music, and idle chat leads to serious feelings. His unflappable composure pairs well with her constant flapping — when she gets extra worked up, Jess tends to wave her arms around — and they bond over their mutual attraction (Dunham addresses any doubts over their shared desirability in a single, pointedly dismissive conversation), senses of humor (they both make each other laugh in moments where only someone who really 'gets you' can), and pop culture passions. (Although her indifference toward 'Paddington' would be a dealbreaker if not for Felix's personification of Paddington-esque nicecore.)
Sure, Jess has been rightly accused of 'giving crazy' and 'giving psychotic,' and yes, Felix is technically an unemployed, recovering addict with a troubling amount of ex-girlfriends (who are now 'friends'). But like any traditional tale of courtship, their love transcends reason, and Dunham's deft dialogue makes it easy to believe their connection. (She wrote or co-wrote every episode and directed all but one.) The 10-episode limited series is loudly and proudly a piece of genre, conforming to expectations to the extent I knew what would happen before the next half-hour began. But how and why, as always, are vastly more important than what, and once you settle in, it becomes clear the sound structure and familiar story are there to support a character — and creator — whose uninhibited inclinations could upend a less disciplined narrative.
Jess, after all, is barely hanging on. When praised by Kim for keeping her composure amid such tumultuous life changes, Jess says, 'I'm just trying to do what I can to survive.' Her standard bubbly tone is flattened. Her oft-animated body language comes to a halt. It's a rare moment of blunt, unembellished vulnerability — the only side Jess is reluctant to show others — and it illustrates so much of what makes 'Too Much' work: Without Jess' persistent vigor, the 'com' in this rom-com would disappear. Without her unusual openness, the 'rom' might not foster much feeling. And without Stalter's talent for masking Jess' fears through recklessness — while still lining that recklessness with genuine excitement for the unknown — the series and its central character would be little more than two parts of the same mess.
Instead, Jess yearns to live as she is, sans reproach, whether that bucks the status quo or embraces its comforts, and the same can be said for 'Too Much,' an immensely endearing saga that isn't afraid to lead with its big heart. Committing to the conventional and unconventional at once may irk viewers who see the former as a concession made by the latter, just as Jess' titular too-much-ness may put off judgey viewers. The pacing isn't always smooth, and a few character arcs lose their tether to the Earth, but Dunham delivers enough salient insights about self-acceptance and sharp jokes about, well, everything to elevate her third TV series above many of the medium's typical love stories.
It's not the 'voice of a generation' work some may have been hoping for, but that's not who Dunham set out to be; that was Hannah Horvath, and while the 'Girls' star may have plenty of harsh words for the traditional side of her creator's new streaming rom-com, I also think she'd end up savoring more of it than she'd ever admit.
'Too Much' premieres Thursday, July 10 on Netflix. All 10 episodes will be released at once.
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