If you recently watched Netflix's new show "Nobody Wants This," it probably didn't surprise you that Adam Brody is extremely well-versed at playing a lovable nice guy. We already knew this from his roles as wholesome guitarist Dave Rygalski in "Gilmore Girls" and geeky boy-next-door Seth Cohen on "The O.C."
But what is surprising is that it's taken this long for Brody to be embraced as a leading man in a romantic comedy, and one who I think could save the struggling genre. His performance perfectly encapsulates what's been missing from modern day rom-coms, and as a self-proclaimed rom-com expert, I think we should put him in everything and make him this generation's next leading man.
(Warning: Spoilers ahead!)
First of all, we all know that modern day rom-coms just don't have the same spark that the ones in the 90s and early 2000s had. I think that's because they've gotten the "millennial gray" treatment. The rom-coms of today have become too centered on matching trendy aesthetics and less on the story and the way a rom-com is supposed to make you feel: light and heavy all at once. We've forgotten that the genre of romantic comedy is an aesthetic all on its own that should be embodied, slipped into like your old favorite pair of jeans, not copy and pasted in a different font. Rom-coms are poetry; they're not a formula, but a spirit that has to be harnessed.
But if it helps you think of it quantitatively, the measure of a good or bad rom-com really all comes down to balance. Rom-coms should be more romance than comedy. It should be full of swoon-worthy, electric and unspoken chemistry, and evened out with smart, subtle, clever humor. Today's rom-coms do the opposite and tend to hang their hats on the comedy — which can be entertaining, but is not as emotionally substantive or as starry-eyed as the traditional rom-com we've all come to know and love.
"Nobody Wants This" does a good job at balancing it back out (though not perfectly — I'll get to that in a bit), and Brody's portrayal as Rabbi Noah Roklov is a big part of that.
His soft, unassuming demeanor, sweet steadiness and wit are emblematic of that "right guy" that every girl is looking for deep down but never actually goes for until it smacks them in the face.
While navigating the early stages of his relationship with messy and anxious Joanne, played wonderfully by Kristen Bell, Brody's character is calm and reassuring. When Joanne gets the "ick" after Noah meets her parents and she's thinking of dumping him, he tells her, "I'm on your side. I can handle you." It's the reassurance that all self-sabotaging women need. And when she goes through a box of his ex's items without his permission, he doesn't yell or get upset — he seeks to understand and forgives her and embraces her vulnerabilities, instead of shaming her for them.
At the same time, he also has no problem turning on the romance. The kiss he and Bell share in the second episode has gone viral as being the perfect rom-com kiss, and I agree. The hand placement, the setting down the purse and the ice cream cone, getting completely caught up in the moment. He is the perfect combination of being strong and self-assured, and also a soft place to land.
A lot of this has to do with the writing of the character, of course, but it's also a testament to Brody's magic. We know it from his past roles that this just comes naturally to him, like Tom Hanks or Hugh Grant. And for that, we should be casting him in every rom-com we can think of.
Now onto the show itself. It's getting us closer to a more perfect modern rom-com. It has a great soundtrack that makes me want to twirl around in my bedroom. The writing is fabulous and the characters are just what we want: flawed in relatable and reaffirming ways.
There are secondary characters (the siblings) that have interesting and likable personalities without overpowering the leads, who are also causing just enough mess and mayhem. And the show is full of miscommunications that make all good rom-coms go round.
At times the show does still lean into the trendy pitfalls of contemporary rom-coms.
First of all, the show can't fully feel like a traditional rom-com because it's not the usual format we're used to — it's a 10-episode series rather than a neat 90 minute movie, so the story is a little different and it dives deeper into the relationship. This feels like a fresh take on the genre, but it also means it's a little off from our memory of what a rom-com is. Where most rom-coms focus on the lead-up between a meet-cute and when a relationship starts, "Nobody Wants This" spends more time on the early stages of the relationship — the part that we usually don't get to see and wonder about at the end of the movie. Do Kathleen Kelly and Joe Fox actually make it work after their meeting in the 91st Street Garden at the end of "You've Got Mail?" Do Andie Anderson and Benjamin Barry let their careers get in the way after their happy ending in "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days"? Those mysteries are a sort-of fuel for rom-coms.
"Nobody Wants This" is also occasionally more sexy and raunchy than the typical rom-com. Part of that is because Bell can so brilliantly play a crude funny girl (think "The Good Place"). But especially towards the end of the season, the show's tone shifts quite a bit to more of a punk rock, slap-stick comedy. When Joanne and her sister Morgan crash the bat mitzvah to the tune of Soulja Boy's "Crank That," I thought to myself: "Is this still the same show?"
They redeem themselves in the end, though. When Joanne leaves the party and tells Noah not to run after her, I kept thinking, "Chase after her you fool! Forget your career! Forget your family! Risk it all for love!" — because all great rom-coms have outlandish expectations for how a relationship fits into a person's real life. And when he appears on the other side of the bus, obviously out of breath and sweaty from running to beat her to her car, it saved the show's reputation as a rom-com.
Regardless, this show makes it feel like we are finally heading in the right direction to a better modern-day rom-com. They may never perfectly fit the mold of the iconic 1990s rom-com zeitgeist of Nora Ephron and Nancy Meyers, but maybe they shouldn't, either? We may never be able to replicate that authentically.
But "Nobody Wants This" gets us closer than we have been in a long time, and it's in no small part thanks to Brody's performance. If you haven't seen this yet, go watch it and get ready to be obsessed with it (and him) for a while. You WILL be googling photos of him and you WILL be rewatching the kiss from episode two — so don't say I didn't warn you!
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