Nicholas Stoller is good at finding affection beneath unreasonable behaviour. We rate his comedies when the talking gets awkward; Platonic shows how well that works, and how easily repeated broad antics can get in the way.
Fi1m perspective
In Platonic (2023), an affectionate conversation can become uncomfortable before either friend has quite noticed. Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen make Sylvia and Will’s closeness persuasive even when it encourages habits better left behind. We laughed at their mutual encouragement, then grew irritated, because each gives the other permission to behave badly. Nicholas Stoller is good at letting us understand why people want to be together without pretending that they are doing each other much good.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008), his directing debut, established his mixture of broad comedy and emotional character work. Judd Apatow produced it, and actor and writer Jason Segel has been a recurring collaborator across Stoller’s career. Neighbors (2014) put those interests into a raucous ensemble comedy, while Bros (2022) continued his work in romantic comedy. Television co-creations including Friends from College (2017–2019) and Platonic, both with Francesca Delbanco, gave him longer to explore troublesome friendships. In Platonic, that extra time also makes repeated behaviour harder to overlook.
Stoller’s habit of treating opponents as recognisable people rather than villains helps explain why the friendship in Platonic works. He and Delbanco write conversations in which an old friend can encourage something everyone else has sensibly tried to discourage. Byrne and Rogen make that encouragement feel affectionate enough to be tempting, even when the consequences for their conduct are plain. The actors are persuasive because the dialogue gives us a reason for the attachment, rather than merely asking us to accept it.
The limit is the broader comedy, which repeats itself, and the supporting characters, who cannot quite compete with the central pair. The series is good company, but too much depends on its two leads making the next bout of bad behaviour worth our time. Stoller gets more from their difficult conversations than from giving them another excuse to misbehave. Start with Platonic for Byrne and Rogen, and allow some patience for the antics.
Biography
Nicholas Stoller is a British-born American writer, director and producer. Born in London on 19 March 1976, he was raised in Miami, Florida, and graduated from Harvard College, where he wrote for the Harvard Lampoon.
He is known for directing the comedy films Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008), Get Him to the Greek (2010), The Five-Year Engagement (2012), Neighbors (2014) and its sequel (2016), and Bros (2022). He co-wrote screenplays including Fun with Dick and Jane (2005), Yes Man (2008), The Muppets (2011) and Sex Tape (2014). With his wife Francesca Delbanco, he co-created the television series Friends from College (2017–2019) and Platonic (2023–present), on which he also directs and writes.
