^{Image credit: Netflix}

I finished the entire season on my day off and here’s my verdict.

‘Pretty Smart’ is a new Netflix sitcom that was released on October 8. It stars Emily Osment as Chelsea, a brainiac who moves to Los Angeles and stays with her upbeat and not-so-smart sister, Claire (played by Olivia Macklin) and her roommates Grant (Gregg Sulkin), Jayden (Michael Hus Rosen) and Solana (Cinthya Carmona).

Check out the trailer here:

Actors and their Characters

I was excited for this series because Emily Osment and Michael Hus Rosen are part of the cast.

Since the early 2000s, I’ve enjoyed Emily’s acting in ‘Spy Kids’, ‘Hannah Montana’ and ‘Young & Hungry’. She’s definitely no stranger to sitcoms so I had high expectations for this series. Unfortunately this time, she missed the mark. I felt this had less to do with her acting and more to do with the character she was given, there wasn’t a lot of room for it to be interesting or entertaining.

As for Michael, I’ve watched him in ‘Tiny Pretty Things’ and was charmed by his portrayal of the character, very emotive and convincing. In ‘Pretty Smart’, he got to play a different kind of character, basically a rather stereotypical role as a gay guy obsessed with social media and looking fabulous. He truly did a great job in bringing life to his character, Jayden. He had the “funnier jokes” and I personally enjoyed one scene where he danced to tell a story – a stellar performance indeed.

The actors playing Grant, Claire and Solana are your typical attractive people but the acting was mediocre and there was a lack of chemistry between them. Plus, the characters were pretty one dimensional – no fault of theirs since that’s just how their characters were scripted to be.

Plot

In my opinion, the plot is slightly disappointing. It had a cringey storyline and punchlines that didn’t… well, punch. No doubt with jokes, it’s always a hit or miss kind of thing but in this series, it felt like there were way more misses than hits. The laughing track kept going off at the bad jokes that it just got annoying. Of course there were some good ones in there but it’s probably because I had high expectations of the show, so I was looking forward to something more.

It did end on a good cliffhanger that would make people want to watch a season 2 just to see how it plays out. There is a lot of room for improvement so I am hoping that if there is a season 2, there’ll be greater chemistry between the actors and a much better storyline with jokes that land. That’s something I know I’ll enjoy.

Verdict

2.8/5

It’s not a bad series but I wouldn’t exactly recommend this to people looking for a hilarious sitcom. If you’re looking for a short, light-hearted series with good looking actors, an average plot and some laughs, you could give this a shot. If you’re hoping it’s anything like ‘Friends’, you’ll most likely be disappointed.