--- title: "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" year: 2015 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/crazy-ex-girlfriend" fi1m_score: 82 critics_score: 79 critics_reviews: 8 published: "2026-09-17T19:12:46.650294+00:00" updated: "2026-09-17T19:13:08.961974+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2015) Created by Rachel Bloom, Aline Brosh McKenna · 43m · MPA TV-14 · Comedy, Drama **Fi1m score: 82** · Critics 79 from 8 reviews *In a sentence:* A lawyer follows a boy from summer camp across America and sings about it; by the third episode we saw her point > Rachel Bloom and Aline Brosh McKenna take the ugliest phrase in dating and spend four seasons finding the woman inside it, two songs at a time. It is funny, sad and rude about the right things; it is also longer than it needs to be. ## Synopsis Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom) is a New York lawyer about to be made partner when she meets Josh Chan (Vincent Rodriguez III) on the pavement, the boy she dated for a summer at camp ten years ago. He is moving home to West Covina, California. Rebecca quits and follows him, insisting to everyone that the move has nothing to do with him. She takes a job at a small firm run by Darryl Whitefeather (Pete Gardner), where paralegal Paula Proctor (Donna Lynne Champlin) guesses the truth and signs up to the cause. Josh has a girlfriend, Valencia Perez (Gabrielle Ruiz), and a sardonic bartender friend, Greg Serrano (Santino Fontana), who notices Rebecca before Josh does. Every so often, somebody sings. ## Review The title is the first joke, and the show is irritated by it. Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom) is a New York lawyer who, on the morning she is offered partnership, meets Josh Chan (Vincent Rodriguez III) on the pavement. She dated him for a summer at camp ten years earlier. He mentions he is moving home to West Covina, California, and within a scene she has quit, packed and followed him, insisting to everyone that this has nothing to do with him. Its creators, Rachel Bloom and Aline Brosh McKenna, take that lie apart over four seasons and 62 episodes with more patience and less cruelty than the title promises. It is a fine series, funnier than its premise and sadder than its packaging, and its main fault is that there is too much of it. The songs are the point. There are two or three an episode, each a pastiche of a style, and each is where Rebecca says what she cannot say in dialogue. The best in the pilot is *The Sexy Getting Ready Song*, an R&B slow jam about a woman making herself beautiful, shot among wax strips, shapewear and a plucked eyebrow that is bleeding, while the rapper Nipsey Hussle, playing himself, walks in, looks around and leaves to ring his exes and apologise. We laughed, and then felt caught out, because the camera stays on the mess after the joke is done. It is not laughing at her. It is laughing at what she has been asked to do. Marc Webb directs the pilot, and the numbers have the grammar of pop videos rather than stage musicals: the light changes, the frame goes soft or square, and West Covina turns into whatever the song needs. Joseph Kahn and Kenny Ortega are among the later directors, and the staging stays confident across four years. Nena Erb’s editing is the quiet achievement. She cuts out of each song without a pause, so that Rebecca is standing in an office car park a beat after she was on a soundstage, and the deflation is the same every time and funny every time. Bloom plays Rebecca with a smile a fraction too wide and eyes that check whether it worked. She is loud, needy and clever, and Bloom never asks us to forgive her, only to keep watching. Donna Lynne Champlin’s Paula Proctor, a paralegal at the small firm Rebecca joins, takes up the Josh campaign with a zeal that is soon more alarming than Rebecca’s own, and Champlin makes her the warmest person on screen and the most frightening. Santino Fontana’s Greg Serrano, the bartender who sees straight through Rebecca and likes her anyway, is dry, tired and the best-written man on the programme. Rodriguez plays Josh as pleasant and slightly dim without making him a fool. Pete Gardner’s Darryl Whitefeather, the boss, is given a story in the first year that we will leave him to tell. The problems are the ones network television imposes. Season one runs to 18 episodes, and in the middle third the same beat comes round more than once: Rebecca does something appalling, sings about it, and is forgiven before the 43 minutes are up. The show is sometimes unkind to Valencia Perez (Gabrielle Ruiz), Josh’s girlfriend, in ways it later regrets, and it is slow to give Vella Lovell’s Heather Davis more than one joke. The later years turn toward Rebecca’s mind rather than her love life, and there is a turn in the third season we will not describe. The fourth season, back up to 18 episodes, spends too long tidying, and some of the late songs illustrate points the scenes have already made. Musicals on television usually fail because the songs stop the story. Here they are the story, and the dialogue is the interruption. Watch it one episode at a time; three in a row and the pattern shows through. The title will put some people off, and they were never going to like a woman who sings about hair removal. Everyone else should push past it and stay for the second season, where the singing gets sadder and the show gets better. *Fi1m score 82, published 17 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Every one of the eight reviews is favourable, and the praise clusters in the same two places: the songs and Rachel Bloom. Critics describe the musical numbers as clever genre pastiches that let the show raise dark subjects, depression and anxiety chiefly, without turning into a dark show, and most call Bloom, who created the series and stars in it, a talent worth watching. Several also credit the writing for giving a tired trope, the unhinged ex, more sympathy and depth than the title promises, and for treating mental illness and female sexuality with unusual care. The reservations are about the early episodes rather than the idea. The Hollywood Reporter finds the pilot rough and underdeveloped once the songs stop, and Variety worries the premise could go off the rails over a long run. Later reviews, covering the second and third seasons, report that it does not. The spread is narrow, from good to very good, with no dissenters. ### Reviews we read (8) - **The Guardian** (90/100, inferred): The critic calls the show a near-miraculous musical romcom that combines knockabout comedy with full-blown melodrama in an authentic exploration of depression and anxiety. They single out creator-star Rachel Bloom’s electrifying performance and the clever genre-pastiche songs for particular praise. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/jul/29/crazy-ex-girlfriend-rachel-bloom-comedy) - **Vulture** (90/100, inferred): The critic calls the series a glorious anomaly and welcome surprise among familiar network shows. They single out its bold originality, emotional depth, and the way its cartoonish musical style allows it to explore dark ideas without becoming a dark show. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2015/10/crazy-ex-girlfriend-is-crazy-good.html) - **Variety**, Brian Lowry (80/100, inferred): The pilot delivers infectious energy through its production numbers and establishes Bloom as a talent to watch, making for a promising companion to Jane the Virgin despite the risk of the premise going off the rails. [Read](https://variety.com/2015/tv/reviews/crazy-ex-girlfriend-review-rachel-bloom-musical-cw-1201607885/) - **IndieWire**, Steve Greene (70/100, inferred): The series remains stellar in season 3 even as the 'craziness' spreads, with power in how it explores the impact of Rebecca's rejection on those around her. It raises the stakes while maintaining its unique voice. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/shows/crazy-ex-girlfriend-season-3-review-rachel-bloom-1201886468/) - **Radio Times**, Daniel Furn (70/100, inferred): The show gives depth to the crazy ex-girlfriend trope through its story of a lawyer moving to win back her ex. It stands out for sensitively exploring mental illness and normalising topics like female sexuality. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/programme/b-5co9i8/crazy-exgirlfriend/) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Daniel Fienberg (70/100, inferred): The musical numbers are among the best of the fall season and Bloom is a talent to watch, but the rest of the pilot feels rough and underdeveloped, leaving room for improvement in this charming mess. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/crazy-girlfriend-tv-review-830806/) - **Den of Geek** (90/100, inferred): The critic praises the series as an inventive, nuanced comedy-drama that defies its title and rom-com packaging, blending sharp writing, emotional depth, and brilliant songs while exploring mental illness and flawed characters with feminist insight. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/crazy-ex-girlfriend-a-netflix-uk-gem-well-worth-your-time/) - **Paste**, May Saunders (9.0): The critic praises the episode for its ambitious blend of musical comedy and serious exploration of depression and self-medication. They highlight the strong supporting cast performances and the show's growing confidence in its unique format. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/comedy/crazy-ex-girlfriend/crazy-ex-girlfriend-review-im-so-happy-that-josh-i) ## Details - **Created by:** Rachel Bloom, Aline Brosh McKenna - **Creator:** Rachel Bloom, Aline Brosh McKenna - **Director:** Stuart McDonald, Kabir Akhtar, Erin Ehrlich, Jude Weng, Aline Brosh McKenna, Alex Hardcastle, Steven Tsuchida, Marc Webb, Joanna Kerns, Michael Patrick Jann, Daisy von Scherler Mayer, Michael Schultz, Audrey Wauchope, Kimmy Gatewood, Joseph Kahn, Don Scardino, Linda Mendoza, Jack Dolgen, Jay Chandrasekhar, Max Winkler, Kenny Ortega, Lawrence Trilling, Paul Briganti, Dan Gregor, Tamra Davis - **Writer:** Aline Brosh McKenna, Rachel Bloom, Audrey Wauchope, Rachel Specter, Michael Hitchcock, Jack Dolgen, Rene Gube, Elisabeth Kiernan Averick, Erin Ehrlich, Ilana Peña, Sono Patel, Dan Gregor, Doug Mand, Elizabeth Kiernan Averick, Alden Derck, Marc Webb, Katie Schwartz - **Editor:** Nena Erb - **Cast:** Rachel Bloom as Rebecca Bunch; Santino Fontana as Greg Serrano; Donna Lynne Champlin as Paula Proctor; Vincent Rodriguez III as Josh Chan; Pete Gardner as Darryl Whitefeather; Vella Lovell as Heather Davis; Gabrielle Ruiz as Valencia Perez; Scott Michael Foster as Nathaniel - **Runtime:** 43m - **Certificate (MPA):** TV-14 - **Release (the US):** 12 October 2015 - **Genres:** Comedy, Drama ## Where to watch in the US - Amazon Prime Video: buy, sd - Apple TV: buy, hd *Checked 2026-09-17.* Also available in: AR, AU, BR, CA, CL, CO, EC, FR, GB, MX, PA, PE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Flight of the Conchords* (2007), Fi1m 84: Two New Zealanders in New York, singing pastiche songs about being unwanted; same trick, drier delivery. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/flight-of-the-conchords.md) - *Fleabag* (2016), Fi1m 90: Another clever woman behaving badly and telling us about it; no songs, more grief. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/fleabag.md) - *Jane the Virgin* (2014): Its natural companion: a heightened comedy that takes its heroine’s inner life seriously. - *Blackpool* (2004): David Morrissey lip-syncs to Elvis in a seaside arcade; the British attempt, stranger and darker. - *Please Like Me* (2013): Australian comedy about depression and dating that is honest without ever turning solemn. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/crazy-ex-girlfriend