Southie-set ‘SMILF’ proves to be singularly unfunny
Showtime’s Southie-set sitcom “SMILF” just might be the most sexually explicit series ever aired by a premium cable network.
It’s the kind of show that makes “Girls” look like a TeenNick program. The pilot practically assaults viewers with a barrage of nudity and sexual situations.
Unfortunately, it’s not especially funny. It’s one dark, depressing look at a SMILF — “Single Mother I’d Like to” — yeah, you get the idea.
Brookline native Frankie Shaw stars in, writes, directs and produces this series adaptation of her Sundance Film Festival award-winning short.
Judging from the onscreen results, she’s wearing too many hats.
She plays Bridgette Bird, mother to a 3-year-old son named — wait for it — Larry (played by twins Alexandra and Anna Reimer). Bridgette is an occasional actress, an aspiring pro basketball player, a tutor to a wealthy family and a sex abuse survivor, in no particular order. It’s a lot to unpack, and the baggage drops in weird ways. Mostly, in the pilot (which was filmed on location), she’s worried her lady junk isn’t getting enough action.
She lives in a cramped studio, shares a bed with her toddler and has a decent coparenting relationship with her ex, Rafi (Miguel Gomez, “The Strain”). He’s a recovering drug addict with a new girlfriend, TV journalist Nelson (Samara Weaving), who is cheery about everything.
Bridgette seems to slink from one bad decision to another. In the Nov. 12 episode, left alone with the kids, she helps herself to her wealthy employer’s (guest star Connie Britton, “Nashville”) belongings and her teenage son. That moment ends in a sight gag right out of the Farrelly brothers gross-out handbook.
Dunkin’ Donuts, Harvard and the Terriers are namechecked, but no one attempts a Southie accent, except perhaps Rosie O’Donnell as Bridgette’s mother, Tutu, and then for only about 20 seconds. That’s fine, since any time Hollywood tries a Boston accent, it comes off like a Kennedy suffering head trauma. But the spirit of Southie is missing, and that’s a loss. Bridgette seems too passive to last a week there.
You always want to support local talent, but “SMILF” makes that gesture damn hard. Right now it might as well stand for “Single Mother I’d Like to Forget.”