“When I read Fleishman Is in Trouble, Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s clever, complex, funny novel about divorce, lack of fulfilment and middle-aged malaise, I remember thinking that it would be a nightmare to adapt for TV,” said Carol Midgley in The Times. “Well now they have,” for Disney+. And while it’s not perfect and too long (eight episodes), they have done a pretty fine job.
Jesse Eisenberg and Claire Danes excel as Toby and Rachel Fleishman, a New York couple who have just been through a divorce, in which their two children were caught “in the spittle-flecked crossfire”. Toby embarks on “a dating-app shagathon”, while Rachel “goes Awol from a posh yoga retreat”. At times you think, “Oh, please, stop your first-world-problem whingeing: you’re rich, you live in Manhattan, you have a house in the Hamptons FFS.” But that’s part of the pleasure, and it all unfolds with “great wit”.
This is a “clever, intricate, mostly persuasive story of marital emasculation, money, status anxiety, midlife burnout and lost potential on the Upper East Side”, said Barbara Ellen in The Observer. It’s pretty watchable, but marred by an “endlessly yapping voiceover” that may lead you to panic: “Is the entire story just going to be read to us?”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
I was really looking forward to this adaptation, said Camilla Long in The Sunday Times, and found it disappointing. “As a casual watch it’s good fun, but it runs out of steam,” and we are forced to spend far too much time with Eisenberg, who “has only one mode: confused”.
Watch on Disney+
-
How Putin misunderstood his past victoriesIn Depth Though Vladimir Putin has led Russia to a number of grisly military triumphs, they may have misled him when planning the invasion of Ukraine
-
Crossword: August 18, 2025The Week's daily crossword
-
Codeword: August 18, 2025The Week's daily codeword puzzle
-
6 stylish homes in North CarolinaFeature Featuring a house with ocean views in Duck and a 1848 cotton-mill-turned-condo in Saxapahaw
-
Weapons: Julia Garner stars in 'hyper-eerie' psychological thrillerThe Week Recommends Zach Cregger's 'top notch' new film opens with 17 children disappearing at exactly the same time
-
Freakier Friday: Lohan and Curtis reunite for 'uneven' but 'endearing' sequelThe Week Recommends Mother-and-daughter comedy returns with four characters switching bodies
-
Critics' choice: Outstanding new Japanese restaurantsFeature An all-women sushi team, a 15-seat listening bar, and more
-
Oz at the Sphere: AI's latest conquestFeature The Las Vegas Sphere is reimagining The Wizard of Oz with the help of AI
-
Book reviews: 'Face With Tears of Joy: A Natural History of Emoji' and 'Blood Harmony: The Everly Brothers Story'Feature The surprising history of emojis and the brother duo who changed pop music
-
Helen Schulman's 6 favorite collections of short storiesFeature The award-winning author recommends works by Raymond Carver, James Baldwin, and more
-
A tour of southern GreenlandThe Week Recommends New international airport has given this 'bucolic' island a welcome boost
