Amanda Peet is good at making sharp, complicated women enjoyable company without asking us to approve of them. Her ensemble work is worth watching; the parts have not always given her enough to do.
Fi1m perspective
In Your Friends & Neighbors (2025), Amanda Peet makes us want to spend more time with people the script keeps pushing to the side. As Mel Cooper, she and Olivia Munn, playing Sam Levitt, give the relationship drama enough life to compete with the burglary story. We enjoyed the gossip because their chemistry made these people good company without making them particularly admirable. Peet is good at this sort of ensemble work: the comedy does not prevent us taking an interest in the character.
Her breakthrough came as Jill St. Claire in The Whole Nine Yards (2000). Physical comedy and timing were central to its appeal, and remain useful things to remember when considering how often she has been cast in smaller supporting parts. The film career that followed frequently put her in girlfriend and wife roles with limited room to develop. Identity (2003), in which she played Paris, offered an ensemble thriller among character actors. The broader pattern, though, left too few opportunities for complicated leads.
Togetherness (2015–2016) gave her a lead as Tina Morris in an intimate comedy-drama. She can be funny without making a character’s troubles seem negligible, which makes that sort of work a sensible fit. Regular roles in Brockmire (2017–2020) and Dirty John (2020) continued the television work. These more substantial parts offer something we want for her: enough time with a character for intelligence to become more than a supply of sharp replies.
Your Friends & Neighbors makes a useful case for giving her that time, even as it keeps returning to Coop. Jon Hamm remains the reason to follow the series, but Peet and Munn make the surrounding relationships worth following in their own right. The commentary on privilege is familiar, and an appealing ensemble cannot make it more searching than it is. Watch it for the company, with the warning that we kept wanting the script to stay with Mel a little longer.
Biography
Amanda Peet is an American actress, writer and producer. She was born in New York City on 11 January 1972 and began her career with small television roles before making her feature film debut in Animal Room (1995).
Her performance as Jill St. Claire in The Whole Nine Yards (2000) brought wider recognition. She has since appeared in films including Something's Gotta Give (2003), Identity (2003), The Way, Way Back (2013) and Identity Thief (2013). On television she has starred in Jack & Jill (1999–2001), Togetherness (2015–2016), Brockmire (2016–2020) and Dirty John (2020).
Peet wrote and co-executive produced the Netflix series The Chair (2021). She plays Mel Cooper in the Apple TV+ series Your Friends & Neighbors (2025–).
