New Girl becomes a warmly recommended ensemble comedy once it stops treating Jess’s awkwardness as the whole joke. Zooey Deschanel is good company; the friendships make the programme worth returning to, despite some overworked romantic plotting.
Elizabeth Meriwether’s New Girl asks us to spend time with adults who are still learning how to share a home without making themselves unbearable. It is a funny, affectionate sitcom, and we recommend it, though its early insistence on Jess’s oddness can feel like hard work. The stronger programme emerges as the other characters become equally worth watching. A premise built around a woman moving in with three men gives the cast plenty of opportunities to embarrass each other.
Zooey Deschanel has to make Jessica ‘Jess’ Day endearing while playing someone whose behaviour repeatedly invites the opposite response. She does it through commitment: the awkwardness never seems to be an apology for wanting company. We can enjoy her eagerness without believing that every eccentricity deserves its own joke. The early writing struggles with that distinction, returning to her quirks when a scene could use a different subject.
Jake Johnson’s Nick Miller and Max Greenfield’s Schmidt help considerably. Nick’s discomfort is funny without every response being pushed; Schmidt’s self-importance has enough anxiety behind it to remain watchable. Lamorne Morris, as Winston Bishop, further broadens the comedy beyond everybody reacting to Jess. The supporting players can carry our attention without her, and their exchanges are enjoyable for reasons other than advancing a romance.
We laughed at the douchebag jar, because fining a flatmate for being objectionable seems a plausible response after enough evenings together. The joke works without needing another speech about how peculiar anybody is. Steve Welch’s editing suits that approach, making room for reactions without treating every pause as an event. The group chemistry benefits from a rhythm that usually feels relaxed rather than laboured.
Tim Suhrstedt’s cinematography keeps the shared space clear and the performers easy to watch together. Michael Whetstone and Jefferson Sage’s production design makes the loft an inviting place to spend an episode, which matters in a programme so dependent on enjoying the company. Ludwig Göransson’s music supplies a cheerful nudge, sometimes more than this already eager comedy requires. The craft is most effective when it gives the actors room and resists adding further emphasis.
The romantic plotting is less dependable. New Girl is good at making us enjoy people being together, but the business of keeping relationships complicated can feel dutiful beside the friendships. Elizabeth Meriwether’s creation is also prone to assuming that more peppiness will improve a joke that has not quite landed. At 22 minutes, an episode can accommodate a little of that, though several in succession may make the habit harder to forgive.
Against the familiar standards of the flatshare sitcom, it succeeds because we want to spend time with the group even when nobody is behaving attractively. The friends can be irritating without exhausting our sympathy, which matters more here than a particularly ingenious plot. We would give it a little time to settle, rather than judge the whole programme by its first burst of enthusiasm. Stay for the friendships if the courtship starts to wear thin.
