Tag: jonathan-tropper

‘Your Friends & Neighbors receives 6.5 out of 10 stars.

Arriving on Apple TV+ with its first two episodes on April 11th followed by one weekly, ‘Your Friends & Neighbors’ sees Jon Hamm blending comedy and drama for a series about a hedge fund manager whose life has taken a real downward swing, and who turns to breaking into his rich neighbors’ mansions in order to maintain his lifestyle.

The new show also stars Amanda Peet, Olivia Munn, Hoon Lee, Mark Tallman, Lena Hall, Aimee Carrero and Eunice Bae.

Related Article: Jon Hamm Says “I Hope I Get a Chance” to Appear in a Marvel Movie

Initial Thoughts

There have been many shows about the dark underbellies of wealthy neighborhoods, where despite the well-manicured lawns and seemingly perfect mansions, the locale is a hotbed of affairs, crimes and gossip.

Trouble is, to stand out from the crowd, ‘Your Friends & Neighbors’ really needed to find a truly fun new angle from which to explore it, and on the evidence of the first season, it’s not totally clear that it succeeded.

Given that Hamm made his name playing another less-than-satisfied symbol of affluent machismo with an edge in ‘Mad Men’s Don Draper, it’s not hard to see why he might be attracted to the different shades of Andrew “Coop” Cooper here.

Script and Direction

Jonathan Tropper, who made his name as a novelist and has been forging quite the cinematic career through work alongside Shawn Levy in particular (he adapted his own novel into ‘This is Where I Leave You’ that the director made in 2014 and wrote ‘The Adam Project,’ the filmmaker’s second successful collaboration with star Ryan Reynolds), and also previously created ‘Banshee’ and ‘Warrior’ for Cinemax.

Here, his back in original TV territory, even if the story of how a wealthy, entitled and slightly smug individual sees some real push back in his life doesn’t really strike you as the most innovative of concepts.

Still, with a well-used format such as this, it’s the execution that counts, and Tropper, along with his writing team, has fashioned something that mostly manages to stick the landing, at least in terms of its main character. Coop is a complicated man, far more than he first appears, and the showrunner has found a more than able talent in Jon Hamm to bring him to life.

Around him, the other characters are a little less fulfilling, but several of them work, including his troubled younger sibling Allison ‘Ali’ Cooper (Lena Hall), and Olivia Munn, doing stalwart work as Samantha Levitt, the unsatisfied housewife in the midst of a difficult divorce to whom Coop has turned for sex and fun since his own marriage collapsed.

The largely smart scripting is sometimes let down by an early over-reliance on voice-over, which despite Hamm’s ability to deliver it smoothly does dip into cliché territory from time to time. How many lectures do we really need, for example, on the shady background to status symbols such as diamonds?

On the directorial front, Tropper has found some experienced collaborators including Craig Gillespie (who is a fellow showrunner here), Greg Yaitanes and Stephanie Laing, who along with Tropper (who handles one episode himself), bring the requisite style and zip to the show, while letting the more emotional sides sit.

Pacing can sometimes be an issue, but the show in general works on a creative level, even if the balance of satire and mystery doesn’t always sit smoothly on the scale.

Cast and Performances

Jon Hamm has long proved he can handle both drama and comedy, and here he has the chance to blend them. For the most part, he runs with the opportunity, bringing both a brio and world-weariness to the main character of Coop.

He’s our way into this story, a man who is facing the slings and arrows of misfortune after his wealthy lifestyle and marriage crumbles around him, giving him a new viewpoint on life. And a yen for breaking and entering. Coop’s a fine character to follow, one with depth and perception about those around him, and while he’s not always the most likeable person, Hamm’s natural charisma still peeks through.

As his ex-wife Mel, Amanda Peet is somewhat saddled with the sassy-yet-sympathetic role of the former spouse who has moved on, but still has some affection for her former partner (and shares kids with him). Peet has had better roles, yet Mel’s effective in her own way.

Olivia Munn has more of an active role as Samantha, with whom Coop has been having an affair for a while. She brings a spiky, darkly funny energy to the role.

Elsewhere, Lena Hall brings nuance to Coop’s sister Ali, whose mental health struggles bring her back into her life, but also enjoys her own plotline instead of simply being another aspect of his. And there’s a memorable turn from Aimee Carrero as Elena Benavides, a housekeeper who becomes Coop’s partner in crime.

Final Thoughts

It doesn’t always overcome the strictures of its genre, and it does sometimes attempt to coast on Hamm’s natural talent, but ‘Your Friends & Neighbors’ makes for a decent enough entry into the Wealthy Suburban Dark Secrets genre.

Apple clearly has enough confidence in it to order a second season before the first has finished putting out episodes (in fact, the order came before it launched), so we can expect this one to hang around the TV neighborhood for a while.

What’s the plot of ‘Your Friends & Neighbors’?

After being fired in disgrace, Andrew “Coop” Cooper (Jon Hamm), a hedge fund manager still grappling with his recent divorce, resorts to stealing from his neighbors’ homes in the exceedingly affluent Westmont Village.

But as he finds some treasures among their possessions, Coop also discovers that the secrets and affairs hidden behind those wealthy facades might be more dangerous than he ever imagined.

Who stars in ‘Your Friends & Neighbors’?

• Jon Hamm
• Amanda Peet
• Olivia Munn
• Hoon Lee
• Mark Tallman
• Lena Hall
• Aimee Carrero
• Eunice Bae
• Isabel Gravitt

Jon Hamm Movies and TV Shows:

• ‘Kissing Jessica Stein‘ (2001)
• ‘We Were Soldiers‘ (2002)
• ‘Mad Men’ (2007)
• ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still‘ (2008)
• ‘Stolen‘ (2009)
• ‘Shrek Forever After‘ (2010)
• ‘The A-Team‘ (2010)
• ‘The Town‘ (2010)
• ‘Sucker Punch‘ (2011)
• ‘Bridesmaids‘ (2011)
• ‘Million Dollar Arm‘ (2014)
• ‘Fargo’ (2014)
• ‘Minions‘ (2015)
• ‘Keeping Up with the Joneses‘ (2016)
• ‘Baby Driver‘ (2017)
• ‘Beirut‘ (2018)
• ‘Tag‘ (2018)
• ‘Bad Times at the El Royale‘ (2018)
• ‘Richard Jewell‘ (2019)
• ‘The Morning Show’ (2019)
• ‘Top Gun: Maverick‘ (2022)
• ‘Confess, Fletch‘ (2022)
• ‘Landman’ (2024)

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