Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair – ‘soothingly familiar’ reboot is a joy

Old sitcoms have a “habit” of returning to our screens either “tired” or “lazy”, said Stuart Heritage in The Guardian. “But that particular memo didn’t reach” the team behind the “Malcolm in the Middle” reboot. “Faster and funnier than before” with more emotional depth, it’s “miraculous how well it works”.

The action picks up 20 years after the original show. Frankie Muniz returns as Malcolm, “the child genius prone to fits of stress-induced sociopathy”. Nearing 40, he is now a single dad raising his teenage daughter Leah (Keeley Karston). Malcolm has turned out “alarmingly normal”, but we soon discover that’s because he has “put distance (physical and emotional) between himself and the full-blown chaos of his family life”.

“Unfortunately”, Hal (Bryan Cranston) and Lois (Jane Kaczmarek) are throwing a party for their 40th wedding anniversary, and they are “determined that it will be a full and inclusive family affair”, said Rebecca Nicholson in the Financial Times.

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Most of the original cast are back, giving the “short, sweet four-parter” the “confidence of a well-oiled machine”. It succeeds largely because it doesn’t try to “modernise itself” – instead, it feels like the team has “banded together to make another handful of ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ episodes”.

Over the four shows, we follow Malcolm as he attempts to reunite with his dysfunctional family “without losing his mind”. There is something “comforting about the sameness of it all”, and the “gently bonkers escapades are soothingly familiar”.

However, trying to “recreate the dynamics of a kids’ comedy with adult characters” does at times feel odd, said James Poniewozik in The New York Times. “The siblings often seem less grown-up than simply enlarged into adult-shaped versions of their recognisable selves.”

Cranston’s face is “as elastic and expressive as ever” and the actors are “still funny”, said Annabel Nugent in The Independent. But the plot “scatters the family members on individual paths” and when they do eventually come together for the family reunion, it’s “fleeting”.

Still, the final showdown between mother and son had me “clenching a pillow” for “emotional support”, said Kristy Puchko on Mashable. Occasionally, a reboot manages to recapture the “magic” while “providing fresh fun”. “Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair” does both with this “joyful celebration” of the original show. “I couldn’t have predicted how much it would mean to me to see Hal, Lois, Malcolm, and the whole gang back again.”