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Amazon’s ‘I Love Dick’ review: ‘A sardonic, intellectual triumph.’

I Love Dick review: Kevin Bacon returns to the small screen in this new Amazon pilot for 2016.

Read our full I Love Dick review below.

I Love Dick review

In the newest round of Amazon’s democratic pilot process, I Love Dick proves to be a bold, unwavering attempt at piercing the ‘inner circle’ of our culture’s comedy club, and does so by being so utterly and completely out of the box. Director Jill Soloway, along with co-creator Sarah Gubbins’ (from the book itself) I Love Dick sees our protagonist, Chris (played by Kathryn Hahn) and the title character (Kevin Bacon) meet by chance, forcing Hahn’s character into a state of psycho-sexual obsession. What follows is a smart, skillful and simultaneous death and rebirth of a wilting marriage, the beginning of what is sure to be a tale of an unwavering sexual reawakening, and a tone so grounded it feels entirely true to life – much like the 1997 book of the same name.

There is an inherent beauty to the series pilot, which sees artful representation of themes and feelings portrayed through its own technical aspects. There is an oddly out-of-place picturesque scene with Dick towards the episode’s end, perfectly illustrating the natural mystery and beauty of Chris’ desires take form in skillful shot composition. It contrasts so beautifully with the chaos of Chris’ environment, the unfortunate circumstances that she faces and the internal conflict she feels in Marfa, Texas. Hahn is a treat, bringing some serious acting chops to the table reminiscent of some of her earlier indie work, in a desiccated world of deflated intellectuals. She does an excellent job of portraying a woman whose entire life is about to be upturned, and whose passions, sexuality and lifestyle is fiercely questioned.

Despite being a comedy series, I Love Dick is certainly not ha-ha funny, instead, it’s more of a dry flippancy; a questionable self-deprecating sense of humour, if not for its sombre roots in the real. It is however, one of three new pilots to hit Amazon this summer, alongside the highly anticipated The Tick, and Jean Claude Van Johnson, both of which lean respectively and progressively more towards the ha-ha nature that some people covet in their comedy – this is not for those people. Overall, I Love Dick is a sardonic, intellectual triumph that hits hard, and buries deep, and is one of Amazon Prime’s strongest new comedies, despite its grounded realism.

I Love Dick review by Matthew Ceo, August 2016.

Amazon’s I Love Dick, The Tick and Jean-Claude Van Johnson pilots are all available on Amazon Prime as of Friday, August 19.

A 20-something scribbler with an adoration for space, film, existentialism and comic books. He consumes the weight of the Empire State Building in tea, enjoys the buzz of large cities and can blow things up with his mind.

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