ZillyPutty

This is a contemporary, Angeleno adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. Overall, there are some charming moments, especially involving the tías, but the movie has a lot of blah moments and the orange spray tans on the two protagonists are painfully distracting and offensive. Did they have to cast a non-Mexican in a Mexican-American role set in Los Angeles? Could you not find an actress of Mexican descent?

My rant about the spray tan and casting aside, this film actually might have worked much better as a series. The plot felt rushed and underdeveloped. More could have been done to explore the romantic tension that existed between the sisters and their romantic interests.

This is a fairly dumb romantic drama about Leyla, a 30yo lawyer who works for her uncle's firm, and who is torn between different men. Her friends are also her coworkers and everyone' lives revolve around her life's dramatic episodes. She is mostly portrayed getting sad/angry-drunk and bouncing between two main suitors. One of the suitors is a long-term partner and the other is someone she barely knows (and he barely knows her).

A flash forward device is used to preface the story at the beginning of each chapter/episode. The structure and writing is very much like a contemporary telenovela. I mainly watched this because it is set in Turkey and I was nostalgic for a past trip that I took there., and not because of the story.

I mainly watched this because it is set in Turkey and I was nostalgic for a past trip that I took there.

I am five episodes into Sugar. Like others, I am a big fan of the cast, especially Colin Farrell and Amy Ryan. I love how Farrell often tries offbeat projects, and I really wanted to like his latest selection.

In this series, his character, Sugar, is a melancholic private investigator who belongs to a secret club of former spies, and experiences a lot of flashbacks involving a family member. His inner monologue is often the narration. A young woman is missing and he is commissioned by her famous/wealthy Hollywood family to find her. So we have multiple plots going on, which is fine in itself, but then other ingredients are added which make the whole story really tedious.

First, creator Mark Protosevich cannot trust viewers to believe that this is a neo-Noir project, so he insists on reminding us by interjecting clips of classic Noir films. Then he muddies the dialogue by constantly layering old Noir-ish instrumental music into the scenes. Do you get it? It's Noir! You're watching Noir! Get it?

Second, I love Amy Ryan but her chemistry with Farrell is awful and her delivery is somehow very wrong for this piece. This is perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the series for me.

Third, while Noir can be boring due to pacing, the constant muddiness of sound and distractions of the classic film clips makes it really hard remain attentive or interested.

That said, I do really like the Noir genre, so for me, it is worth finishing the series and getting my monthly subscription's worth of viewing.

*****EDIT: I am now six episodes in, and some of the things that I complained about now make a lot of sense, so perhaps sit tight until you finish this episode.