Welcome to paradise.
The wealthy, postcard-perfect beachfront town of Monterey, California -- as seen in HBO's new series Big Little Lies, at least -- is like a vision board brought to life: architecturally stunning homes, cosmetically beautiful people, Blue Ribbon schools... Why wouldn't you want to live there?
But underneath that stellar exterior lies plenty of problems, big and little, that its inhabitants must face. Mo' money, mo' problems.
Yes, it’s another story about rich people problems: ambition, complicated female friendships, love, privilege, abuse, and even murder. But the A-list cast and beautiful direction from Jean-Marc Vallée (Dallas Buyer's Club) give the well-worn stories a compelling edge. You might’ve seen this plot play out before, but not by these particular superstars.
Much like the novel on which it is based, the miniseries opens with police investigating a suspicious death at an elementary school fundraiser. Throughout the course of the first episode we gradually learn more about the folks involved in the incident and the complicated, competitive environment that lead to the tragedy.
Reese Witherspoon -- who executive produced the series after optioning the 2014 novel by Australian author Liane Moriarty -- stars as Madeline, a tightly wound mother of two daughters (a teenager from her first marriage and first-grader from her second), who takes the new-in-town young mom Jane (Shailene Woodley) under her wing on the first day of school. Madeline shows Jane the ropes, including introducing her to some the other moms: her beautiful (and slightly mysterious) best friend Celeste (Nicole Kidman, also an executive producer), her ex-husband's new wife Bonnie (Zoe Kravitz), and the powerful lawyer Renata (Laura Dern).
But the women are quickly forced to take sides when Renata’s daughter accuses Jane’s son, Ziggy (Iain Armitage) of choking her on the playground. When Madeline discusses the incident with her husband, Ed (Adam Scott), later that night, she laments, “bruises heal. Stigmas can last forever.”
Witherspoon is fantastic as the Type-A Madeline, who’s like a grown-up, less unhinged version of Election’s Tracy Flick, and Woodley’s Jane is the perfect foil: she’s quiet and cautious as she takes everything in. Dern, too, is strong as the smart, outspoken Renata. “I’m not liked,” she says plainly to her husband the night of the incident at school. And then there’s Kidman’s Celeste, who is full of mystery even to her closest friends.
Of the men, Adam Scott stands out as Madeline’s nice-guy second husband, who is worried that her dislike of her ex’s new wife means he’s her not-quite-good-enough plan B, and Alexander Skarsgard is both handsome and scary as Celeste’s violent husband, Perry.
Presumably, as in the book, the two main mysteries will eventually align. Who’s dead, and which kid actually hurt Renata’s daughter?
The story of the first episode hews closely to the novel, with minor details changed (the setting goes from Sydney to Monterey, an affluent coastal community on one side of the Pacific to the other) and certain characters (specifically, Dern’s Renata) fleshed out slightly more. The setting lends itself to camp, but the script, written by David E. Kelley, doesn’t really play with the cliched stories as much as it should. The sunsets and design-porn sets, however, are fantastic.
The Verdict
Big Little Lies might bring the secrets of a beachside community to TV, but the predictable plot and not-quite-soapy-enough scripts mean it’s not the breezy melodrama you’d expect of a beach read brought to life. But thanks to its big-name stars (and their talent) and cinematic direction, Big Little Lies is intriguing enough to try out.
Big Little Lies premieres Sunday, February 19th on HBO.
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