Not recommended for those unfamiliar with Nathan's work. It's building on top of things he's done in the past and trying to further himself. It was a hard watch for me but very enjoyable imo. You'll either like it or hate it with your whole being.
It's a little boring, it's a little cringy, and it's a little bit awesome to see a wonderful actress actually "act" in a show inside of a show, it’s a hard watch, but I just couldn't stop watching, it has a satirical stance to the world we are living in nowadays, and it has a A24 feeling with it, which is kinda lowkey cool like the movie Witch
On the surface, the protagonist keeps on dwelling into that innocent little girl’s Tiktok “curse”, but through out the show it apparently did nothing to them, the real curse is the TV show and the pretentious and fake lifestyle and fake helping people fake interaction that came with it, and people would just blindly believe everything as long as it is on camera. and that is what CURSE trying to tell us through this tragicomedic story. We as millennial generation, we are all "cursed".
In the end the curses for them are lifted, as Asher ascended himself and all the scenes of Asher are resemblance to the birth of the child, the struggling, the pulling, the cutting and in the end he transcended into rebirth, he didn’t need to act like someone he was not anymore, he didn't need to learn those jokes. And he finally got a taste of what they have always offered to people in their TV show, which is fake help from the firefighters which the receiver doesn’t really want. Isn't that what they have done to the Espanola?
And the Green Queen Whitney finally have a real life purpose (the new born baby) instead of pretentious project and life for TV show, and finally Asher who he doesn’t love anymore is gone for her.
For Dougie he finally remorse for all the things he had done and exploiting other people’s crisis including the death of her wife.
The birth of the baby revert all their toxic relationship.
The end is a beautiful visual storytelling, a little bit of David Lynch, going beyond logic and going a little deep. It might as well be one of the greatest TV finales in the history. Almost like a movie.
There is one sentence Asher said in the show at the end when they having dinner: “Art is about, I mean sometimes you have to go to extreme lengths to make your point.”
So is going up all the way into the galaxy enough lengths for you audiences?
Or you are just being cursed to just see the surface of everything?
Ok, so I started out with extreme skepticism, but now I watch every new episode as soon as it comes out cuz I'm really enjoying the creepiness, cringeness and dreadful feeling, as well as not knowing how and if this will culminate.
My hopes were high for something from Nathan. Unfortunately, this is garbage
The real curse is having to watch this show.
This show is basically Twin Peaks meets The Room (one might even call it Wiseau Noir, perhaps). The sheer awkwardness & eeriness is unpalatable, but in the best way possible.
Most of the first episode was almost unwatchable. I was disinterested in the characters.
Emma Stone was wasted on this. The story doesn't advance, it's not funny or clever just long uncomfortable scenes.
Bizarre but wholly inspired character drama that explored themes like white virtue-signalling, social media phoniness and colonization.
Ultimately sputtered out on multiple plot threads and themes, opting instead to take a huge swing in the finale that didn't quite land... But will undoubtedly be something I think about for years to come for its equal-parts audacity and artistry.
At some point while watching this you might be thinking "what is the point of this show?", but then suddenly there is this really intense zooming in on some random object in the frame while the music gets sinister and mystical and you'll think "well hold on, what's this? maybe..."
No. You were right the first time.
Slow-burn cringe that was painful to watch yet I couldn't look away which was a complete novel sensation to me.
I had to make myself finish this series. I made myself believe, somehow, at the end, all would be made clear. Clearly, I was disappointed. I'm sure it could be said I missed themes, underlying meanings, and symbolism; however, I couldn't wade through the drivel of the creepy, eye-rolling, and painful storyline to find anything deeper. And the ending, whatever it was supposed to mean, was absolutely the most ridiculous piece of work I've ever seen. Not even Emma Stone could save this show.
nine episodes wondering whether there is or not a 'curse' only for it to be introduced in the finale. there were far too many repetitive episodes and the whole thing could have been 3-4 episodes frankly. everyone is unlikable and there are no sympathetic characters. ultimately quite a grating and pointless experience. surely this is a single season show?
I’m holding on for dear life, hoping that somehow this gets better, but after 5 episodes and knowing there are still 5 more, I don’t know how much longer I can hold on to hope for this one.
We gave it 18 minutes... 18 very long, very painful minutes. It's disjointed, has no direction and isn't the remotest bit funny - it's supposed to be a comedy - somebody missed the memo. The characters are completely uninteresting too.
1/10
I have been unlucky enough to watch some truly terrible TV shows, and I have to say this makes the top 5, perhaps even the top 3 worst shows ever to grace the small screen. Emma Stone…? Is this the best you got now?
This is a story about the most shallow, despicable, reprehensible, zero morals, zero ethics people who are so far beyond phony that it’s not funny in the least. You will hate everyone, and I do mean everyone, in this show. The most dislikable person is the lead actor who is also the creator, the writer and the director.
There is absolutely nothing funny about this show. Seriously, there is no comedy whatsoever, it’s about people you cannot find a single redeemable quality for and if you don’t like the players then why watch the play? For the message? The message is terrible too.
Your time is better spent vacuuming your carpet - one fiber at a time with a microscopic vacuum cleaner than it is spending even a single minute of this insanely stupid show.
The acting is on par with a play put on by three year olds.
Do yourself a favor and forget this show even exists.
This is actually a better series than expected. It is also more complex than just the characters and the storyline. It watches like a tragi comedy but is actually a protest against corporate America, Boomer hell culture, bullying, college sports team culture, Reddit, Twitter, and the insanity coming with these days small entrepreneurship,... all under the blanket of doing good but with hidden agendas and thus it will fail at every point. It reminds me of a quote a few years ago: When big money enters doing well for all, doing well is the first that suffers. I like the cleverness coming with this series, and how bigger issues are being made small to understand the big picture.
Life of insects. The quality of the production.. no quality. Why are all the stand-upers are so uncharismatic yet so go-getters?
Live like a reality show,so people think that you are always performing.
I was saying "WTF did I just watch?" after each episode. Especially the finale which is the most absurd thing I've ever seen.
It's a cringe comedy that will leave you with more questions than answers. But for some reason, you feel you must continue the story.
classically painful to watch, while also having a lot to say about virtue signalling/arts and culture/gentrification/priviledge, all reslly well portrayed through the dynamic of asher and whitney.
great watch, easy recommend, i will mever watch it again.
There's a natural curiosity and interest vested in me towards works of art which tip-toe in the delicious line between uncomfortable and surreal. The Curse looked promising enough to be a great contemporary example of it.
The show portrayed modern insecurities very well. Insecurities regarding everything - sex and relationships, wealth, race and religion. And when the penultimate episode ended, it felt as if the threads so meticulously woven from the first shot of the show, was going to form something that will be a great dramatic satirical piece of television that would be loved and studied for years to come. Stellar performances from the extended cast, the fluency between scenes, the voyage into the ugly truths of colonialism are still very well done and would stay with me for a long time.
But Fielder's and Safdie's juvenile and abrupt decision to completely uproot whatever ambiguity they built from the beginning is really appalling to me, when they knew that the ending will decide it's place. Their attempt at something 'profound' feels like a rebellious attempt to provoke everyone with their confidence at the fact that their viewers cannot and should not try to decipher or predict where the show will go.
As a huge fan of his, I hope Fielder tries his hand at Dramatic Television again.
But for now, I'll just wonder what this could've been.
The ending didn't hit as much as I hoped it would, but that didn't detract from the overall quality of the show—a show I loved so much I truly don't get how anyone could not at the very least like it. But different strokes and all that. Will definitely be giving this a rewatch (several, even).
I have no idea what I just watched :sweat_smile: awkward, cringy and not that funny... however I couldn't stop watching!
Emma Stone is the reason I watched it, and she is just great in this show.
The end was.... interesting :sweat_smile: Nothing like I thought it would be. I'm not familiar with the creators of the show, but it seems that perhaps this is the norm for them? Guess you have to watch it for yourself really. Won't watch it again, but enjoyed the ride!
Show and season 1 rated a 7.6
It’s difficult to settle on a rating for this limited series. I really dug so many things about it for so much of it: the acting, the extremely critical points made about social media and performative culture, the overall vibes . . . But as a whole, this didn’t feel like, well, a whole. I don’t think I would enjoy a rewatch of the series anywhere near as much as this initial viewing; all that’s left for me is recommending and/or rewatching very specific scenes and segments for various reasons. The Curse will stick with and perhaps even haunt me forever, though.
Do yourself a favor, and skip the rest of the season, and just start the final episode 27 minutes in, and treat it like a short film. The rest of the season really doesn't matter. That's the story.
As much as I like Emma Stone, and the other actors do a good job, the cringe comedy/tension was difficult to watch for an hour at a time, but the ending was something that will stick with me for a long time.
I've never seen anything quite like this, and I'm not sure I fully understand it yet, but l love it in ways I've never loved a TV show before.
Uncomfortably funny. Karmically devastating. Unsettlingly poetic.
Hahahahahahahhaahahaggagagahagahahahgahahahhahahhaga
Seriously though this is my least favorite Nathan Fielder work. The middle episodes felt very weak, though episodes 1, 8 & 9 were very good. The finale was certainly memorable. Can't be good at least it was interesting. Emma Stone's performance in the show was incredible. The highlights would be the comedy sequences, Nathan when he portrays Asher feeling extreme emotions and just everything with Emma Stone as Whitney. The drama wasn't always the most engaging unfortunately.
Feels like Safdie and Fielder met over a sabbath meal in Toronto, Safdie wrote himself a little show with Fielder as his cameo, probably sent a bunch of money of Israel with the cash out, ran over brown children in Astoria, Queens and proceeded to make a self-masturbatory snooze-o-matic that puts Nathan down and him as a hebrew travis brickell grand mastering a goyim
rich girls colonizer fantasy while taking pot shots at a Somali family and Native-Americans. Sry for the run on sentance, but this show made by these particular people who used the subject matter and other cultures the way its done, seems slightly psychotic in execution and projection.
Watching Nathan Fielder make reality shows is much better than watching him in a drama about making a reality show. The performances in The Curse are fine, but the show doesn't go anywhere.
Shout by ngearBlockedParent2023-11-30T23:40:35Z
It's not a comedy guys, it's a tragicomedy. And it's the best after Shakespeare. ;)
It is a kind of reflection to "todays" wannabe social behevior.