Dinner With Parents: Review
By Sioph W. Leal
Dinner With Parents is a comedy series about a weekly family get-together that always devolves into chaos and fiasco with the Langer family. Every Friday night, the Langers are involved in lies, betrayals, pranks, schemes, and even unwelcome neighbours, possibly committing at least one felony. It’s always a night of bad decisions. The Langer family may love each other, but they don’t always like each other. Jane (Michaela Watkins) and Harvey (Dan Bakkedahl) are husband and wife, parents to David (Henry Hall) and Gregg (Daniel Thrasher), who are always at odds with each other, always resulting in whatever chaos happens at Friday night dinner.
Situational humour has worked well in the past with hit comedies such as Arrested Development or The IT Crowd, but somehow Dinner With Parents manages to miss the mark with every episode. Smaller roles, such as Grandma Rose (Carol Kane), offer nothing new or refreshing with their input. If you have seen Kane in her other projects, then you have seen the same character that she plays in Dinner With Parents. She is the older, eccentric figure who has quippy one-liners that do nothing for comedic value, but the same could be said for the entire series.
As the weeks pass, there are new side characters brought into the series, such as Kristin (Anoushka Chadha), David’s ex-fiancé and the cliché neighbour Donny (Jon Glaser) whose goal in life seems to be to be romantically involved with Jane and cause everyone around him nothing but aggravation. These types of characters are supposed to help uplift the series into something funny and watchable, but instead they add nothing but a mild annoyance to the entire series.
Dinner With Parents had the potential to be a light-hearted short comedy show with enjoyable family antics. Instead, we got petty rivalries from all characters. This could have been more enjoyable had the characters had more of a personality, but instead they are all reduced to tired stereotypes that bring nothing to the genre or the viewers enjoyment.
Dinner With Parents will be available on Amazon Freevee On April 18, 2024.