Each era will get their very own raucous school comedy, and whether or not yours is “Animal Home” (1978) or “Van Wilder” (2002), “College Daze” (1988) or “22 Bounce Avenue” (2014), “Legally Blonde” (2001) or “All people Needs Some!” (launched 2016 however set in 1980), you’ll acknowledge loads of every in Benito Skinner‘s Amazon Prime Video sequence, “Overcompensating.”
Though it’s unclear what era the 31-year-old Skinner is supposed to be representing when his modern-day freshmen profuse their love for decade-old popular culture like “Glee” (2009-2015), the “Twilight” movies (2008-2012), and Nicki Minaj’s 2011 banger, “Tremendous Bass” — whereas nonetheless promoting their souls for to see Charli XCX (an govt producer on the sequence) — the primary season’s emphasis on common components, like hormone-induced comedian hysteria and early-adult edification, show endearing sufficient to beat nagging failures of overfamiliarity and nostalgic imprecision.
At his Idaho highschool, Benny (Skinner) is the golden boy: star quarterback on the soccer crew, class valedictorian, and Homecoming king. However behind the jocular smile of an American idol lies a secret: Benny is homosexual, and he’s past terrified to confess it. He’s tried being with ladies — actually, actually tried — and it simply didn’t click on. He’s solely managed to keep up his heteronormative bonafides by mendacity by means of his shiny white enamel.
One might imagine school would give Benny an opportunity to begin over. At Yates College, he’s a whole bunch of miles (or extra) from his hometown, his previous associates, and his demanding dad (Kyle MacLachlan); certainly right here, at a bastion for liberal youth, he may be himself with out concern of judgment.
Nicely, not fairly. On the primary day of faculty, Benny runs right into a welcome desk run by an LGBTQ society greeting potential members, however the mere presence of some assertive bros is sufficient to ship him scurrying again to the protection of his false facade. He tosses a soccer with a little bit further zip. He fingers out again slaps and head nods. He compliments a sexy lady who asks him to take her image. From there, Benny can’t assist however double down, utilizing the identical macho tips he honed in highschool to realize favor in school.
“Overcompensating” isn’t simply Benny’s story. As an alternative, it frames the concern of being judged, labeled, or in any other case othered as a common expertise. Everyone seems to be scared to confess one thing about themselves to others, whether or not it’s about their sexuality, hobbies, profession, or, nicely, something actually. For Benny, popping out might imply shedding relationships new and previous. He’s risking his family and friends, his security and safety, his previous and his future all of sudden. It’s not truthful to check his secret with somebody who merely doesn’t wish to be deemed uncool by the favored children, however that’s simply another reason why you’ll be able to’t evaluate individuals’s emotions: They’re uniquely highly effective to the particular person dwelling with them.
So when Carmen (Wally Baram), one other freshman, tries too onerous to slot in together with her hard-partying roommate Hailee (Holmes), or performs up her sexless relationship with Benny to show to everybody she’s discovered an enviable boyfriend, her concern of being known as out as a pretend is palpable. Carmen’s considerations over not discovering any associates (or, worse nonetheless, getting caught with the identical sort of asshole she dated in highschool) aren’t as intense or overwhelming as Benny’s terror of being outed, however they’re simply as relatable.
“Overcompensating” evokes the nervousness of these early school days (or highschool or grade faculty) with pace and ferocity, and its humor suits the identical description. Jokes fly in from each angle at a gradual clip. Crass references, cringe comedy, popular culture gags, informal nudity, intelligent one-liners — all of them discover their place as “Overcompensating” bombards the viewers with alternatives to chuckle at and with its struggling central duo. The primary episode splices in brief flashbacks to fill in Benny and Carmen’s backstories whereas swiftly transferring by means of a primary day on campus spent clinging on to anybody who would possibly like them and listening to anybody who’s already discovered their individuals.
For Benny, that particular person is Peter (Adam DiMarco), an idolized senior and undisputed king of the bros. Peter has a floppy baseball cap to “go” with any outfit. He’s acquired a paper-thin mustache and a shrub of chin hair to match. He howls and barks at his frat brothers, and he ogles girls with out even bothering to cover it. That Peter can be relationship Benny’s sister, Grace (Mary Beth Barone), is what makes him notably influential to our freshman protagonist. Peter is comfortable to assist out his de facto lil bro, which suggests he’s keen to coach Benny to be similar to him — despite the fact that Benny, the actual Benny, is nothing like Peter.
“Overcompensating” lends spectacular depth to its antagonist, reveling in Peter’s boisterous highs as usually because it sits patiently in his surprising lows. A few of the sharpest laughs come from skewering prototypical bros (brototypicals?), together with James Van Der Beek’s brief however savage cameo as a cherished frat alumnus and a recurring bit the place one oafish dude inevitably, voluntarily, and inexplicably publicizes he has to go take a shit. By the point Benny’s reached his breaking level with these boorish but lovable jokers, it’s equally clear why he craves their camaraderie and why he can’t stand being round them.
Skinner, who wrote or co-wrote practically each episode, makes for a convincing straight man (forgive the pun); many of the humor performs off his emotional and bodily discomfort, awkward feedback, and common embarrassment, however he additionally holds his personal when Benny lets down his guard, sharing real levity with Carmen and onerous truths with himself. Holmes is a constant supply of unapologetic audacity, there’s a powerful supporting solid of younger performers, and veteran actors come by means of in key dramatic moments. (Connie Britton is all the time good, and Lukas Gage makes probably the most of a long-hyped but short-lived look late within the season.)
“Overcompensating” tilts too removed from its comedian roots in its closing episodes, and it might have mined extra from sourcing Benny’s excessive anguish over popping out. However then once more, it nonetheless might.
The sequence units itself up for extra seasons, so leaving its lead lots to find within the years forward could also be for the perfect. All in all, it’s removed from a exceptional comedy, nevertheless it’s actually a sound one. And with so few prefer it hitting theaters as of late, “Overcompensating” should find yourself being some younger viewer’s formative school story — that’s, in the event that they didn’t see “Expensive White Individuals,” “The Intercourse Lives of School Ladies,” “Gen V,” “Felicity,” “Grown-ish,” “Greek, “Undeclared,” or any of the others.
Grade: B-
“Overcompensating” premieres Thursday, Might 15 on Amazon Prime Video. All eight episodes of the primary season might be launched without delay.