[imagesource: Hulu]

The reviews for Pam & Tommy are in, with praise for how surprisingly long (read: nuanced) the show is.

The highly-anticipated series, about to air on the Disney-owned streaming service Hulu, follows the ups and downs of the marriage between Pamela Anderson (played by Lily James) and Tommy Lee (played by Sebastian Stan).

The eight-part series puts the spotlight on the couple’s sex tape which was recorded privately during their honeymoon, stolen from a locked safe, and released online without their permission in 1995.

We touched on the trailer(s) already, but we’ll slot the first one in here as well:

The Guardian’s review battled over whether it should have been a movie instead but ultimately decided that the “gratuitous romping” was such fun, with the detail making “the world richer and denser and more of a hoot than popping to the cinema”.

A lot of praise was given to James’ and Lee’s acting, who gave it their all:

They are magnetically attracted to each other, and play lovestruck honeymooners like two feral animals who communicate in grunts. In the episode where they fall in love, they barely even talk. It’s so, so good.

Pam & Tommy‘s cast also includes Seth Rogen (“who isn’t a chuckling stoner for once”), Nick Offerman, Taylor Schilling, Pepi Sonuga, and Andrew Dice Clay:

.In an era of Marvel megamovies (also starring Stan, also available on Disney+), it’s nice to watch something that doesn’t just assign goodies and baddies.

We spend eight hours learning various shades of grey while Rogen wears a sick mullet and gets a succession of big fits off. That’s what TV can do that films can’t.

The review also touches on that questionable moment when Stan talks to his own CGI penis, voiced by Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s Jason Mantzoukas.

The conclusion is basically that “if [Disney’s] going to pivot to adult themes after 70-plus years of Snow White” it is better to “go hard or go home”.

With the phrase “unmissable legacy TV” in there somewhere, Disney sure as hell went hard.

Watch out for the show coming to Hulu on February 2 – this Wednesday.

[source:guardian]