Netflix’s ‘Big Mistakes’ Turns Anxiety Into an Art Form And It’s Hilarious

Created by Dan Levy and Rachel Sennott Big Mistakes throws viewers into the lives of a deeply dysfunctional New Jersey family who accidentally stumble into organized crime after one very bad decision snowballs into many many worse ones Itamp8217s an absurd premise sure but the series succeeds because it never asks viewers to believe its escalating insanity is normal Instead it asks something much simpler what if the absolute worst people imaginable were forced to handle increasingly impossible situations Turns out thatamp8217s very funnyThe series moves at an almost breathless pace with twists arriving so rapidly that stopping to question the logic often feels beside the point Some viewers may find the plotting too overthetop or implausible but Big Mistakes operates best when viewed less as grounded crime drama and more as an escalating panic attack with punchlines And for anyone who has met people who are deeply anxietyridden pathologically indecisive or capable of making catastrophically bad choices under pressure the showamp8217s emotional reality actually feels more truthful than its circumstancesDan Levy anchors much of that chaos with one of his most interesting performances to date Audiences expecting a variation of David Rose from Schittamp8217s Creek may be surprised by Nicky an anxious pastor constantly trapped between responsibility guilt and absolute terror Levy keeps the character grounded even as events spiral further out of control around him Thereamp8217s still the impeccable comedic timing audiences expect but Nicky feels less performative and more human amp8212 often functioning as the voice of reason in a family where reason is in desperately short supplyThat dynamic works especially well opposite Taylor Ortegaamp8217s Morgan who frequently acts first thinks later and rarely learns from experience Ortega delivers perhaps the seriesamp8217 biggest surprise Her performance is chaotic without becoming exhausting and she finds vulnerability underneath Morganamp8217s impulsiveness that keeps the character from becoming cartoonish Morganamp8217s recklessness drives much of the plot but Ortegaamp8217s charisma ensures viewers keep rooting for her even when she is objectively making terrible decisionsThen thereamp8217s Laurie MetcalfMetcalf has spent decades proving she can do almost anything but Big Mistakes gives her one of her most delightfully unhinged roles in years As Linda the family matriarch juggling grief politics parenting and several simultaneous breakdowns Metcalf weaponizes panic in ways that are both hilarious and oddly moving Wideeyed frantic emotionally combustible amp8212 she delivers the sort of performance that constantly threatens to overpower scenes but never actually does Itamp8217s hard not to think of some of her most iconic turns when watching her here she attacks every moment with the energy of someone who understands that comedy and desperation are often separated by only a few inchesThe ensemble chemistry becomes the showamp8217s secret weapon Much like Schittamp8217s Creek the family dynamics often work better than the plot mechanics themselves The sibling bickering feels authentic the resentment feels earned and the affection hiding underneath all the dysfunction keeps the series emotionally grounded even when the story veers into increasingly outrageous territory And outrageous it getsThe criminal underworld storyline becomes more convoluted with every episode introducing increasingly bizarre situations shifting allegiances and reveals that arrive so quickly viewers barely have time to recover before the next problem emerges Remarkably this mostly works because the pacing is so relentless Episodes move quickly dialogue stays sharp and the show rarely lingers long enough for viewers to question the mechanics behind every decisionPerhaps the greatest compliment that can be given to Big Mistakes is that it remains consistently unpredictable Many of the seriesamp8217 biggest turns genuinely feel blindsiding and the cliffhanger finale delivers a reveal that initially seems almost too unexpected before clicking satisfyingly into place in retrospectNot every piece fits perfectly Some emotional beats could use more breathing room and certain plot developments require viewers to check in their Logic Police hats at the door But Big Mistakes understands that entertainment sometimes matters more than precisionFunny dark fastmoving and gloriously ridiculous Big Mistakes succeeds because it fully commits to its own madness It transforms bad decisions into spectacle anxiety into comedy and dysfunction into something strangely lovableStream all episodes of Big Mistakes on NetflixPosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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Netflix’s ‘Big Mistakes’ Turns Anxiety Into an Art Form And It’s Hilarious

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Juan Ayala

Beyond Space: Dr. Scott Parazynski on AI, Courage, and the Human Future - By Jack Myers

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Netflix’s ‘Big Mistakes’ Turns Anxiety Into an Art Form And It’s Hilarious

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