Tune In Or Tune Out: ‘Still Up’ Would Be Better As A Straight-To-Stream Movie
Apple TV+’s new show Still Up begins with a classic rom-com set-up: Danny (Craig Roberts) and Lisa (Antonia Thomas), insomniac best friends, spend every night calling each other as the rest of the world sleeps. Danny’s agoraphobia and Lisa’s obligations to her young daughter and boyfriend prevent the pair from spending time face to face. However, by the end of episode one, Lisa finds out a dating app deems the pals 91% compatible. The two spend the rest of the season wondering if they really are just friends. While cute in premise and with adorkable leads, this British sit-com created by Steven Burge (The Impression Show with Culshaw and Stephenson) and Natalie Walter (I May Destroy You) might have fared better as a 90-minute film. Without many side plots or supporting characters, its quirky humor and conversation-driven episodes are not entertaining enough on their own.
Meet Danny and Lisa
Both Roberts and Thomas deliver disarmingly charming performances of their idiosyncratic characters. Still Up’s strange sense of humor is cleverly written, and the actors pull off the dry dialogue. It’s believable when Danny says he got out of a cat birthday party with the excuse of fulfilling his dream to visit every Disney theme park. Danny’s neighbor Adam (Luke Fetherston) once says his uncle put a friend’s severed nose in his mouth to preserve it because “well you would, wouldn’t you?” Even though the other characters don’t buy it, the audience accepts this as Adam’s eccentric world view. While silly conversations about potentially inessential body parts feel like genuine moments between friends — Lisa says knees, Danny says chin —the viewer does not always feel a part of Danny and Lisa’s little world.
Matters aren’t helped by the fact that, despite Danny’s introversion and Lisa’s extraversion, they’re essentially the same character. Their interactions are like watching someone talk to themself. Their intense similarity lacks the contrast that makes the most intriguing TV couples.
Was it Tune In or Tune Out
Escalation is a primary rule of comedy and Still Up could use more of it to heighten its dry, dialogue-based comedy. There is no reprieve from the same quirky jokes that are pleasant but safe, afraid to venture into the truly sharp or outrageous. Like the jokes, the antics, attempts at resolving conflict, and overall plot don’t escalate, dragging out each episode’s pace. When trying to retrieve a stolen dress, Lisa goes from doing nothing, to politely speaking to the thief, to taking her clothes off to pressure him, all while on the phone with Danny. The stripping is meant to be daring and shocking, but it is anticlimactic and not bizarre enough for a real payoff. Also, the constant conversation between Lisa and Danny leaves little room for fluctuation in the plot, further slogging the pacing. As a whole, the season lacks movement. The only tension comes in episodes six and seven, with Lisa reevaluating her relationship with Veggie (Blake Harrison) and a potential new love interest for Danny entering the scene.
What Still Up really needs is more material. Adam is hilarious but underutilized, and well-meaning Veggie could garner sympathy if only he was more developed. Additional supporting characters would greatly improve the show; it would mean more subplots, greater variety in scenes, and more diverse characters for the leads to play off. As it is, every episode has a plot for Danny and a plot for Lisa, bound together by a FaceTime call. If this were a straight-to-stream romcom, the premise would be a cute enough, but without any other plot elements, the will-they-won’t-they can’t drive the series for long.
Who will like it?
If you’re in the mood for a quirky show to put on in the background, Still Up is just the right thing. If you want a tension-filled friends-to-lovers plot with chemistry, conflict, and fleshed out supporting characters, Still Up cannot deliver. The show’s jokes are cleverly written but repetitive and lacking in edge. The characters are all charmingly awkward, but there aren’t enough to drive the show. The premise of insomniacs calling each other while the city goes to sleep seems built for romance; however, the all too comfortable relationship between the leads lacks tension, resulting in slow pacing and little to root for. Ultimately, Still Up is light and fun, but not a whole lot more.
