Fleishman Is in Trouble2022

Illuminating and destabilising, Fleishman Is in Trouble is the kind of show that makes you want to grab people by the shoulders and shake them, to shout "watch this!"

There's little to dislike about Fleishman is in Trouble. Incredibly cast, well-filmed, very contemporary and it definitely has something to say about middle-age, marriage, parenting, and finally trust. It just doesn't take it across the goal line in a satisfying way for me. I guess that's what lends it its authenticity, because life rarely gives us nice, neat little endings that wrap everything up. Sitcoms and melodramas do that. I do feel a tad duped, but I think that's intentional. FIIT lulls us into thinking we are righteous in the sides we pick then breaks the bad news that all is not as it seems. And not in a gimmicky way. My issue, and why I only gave it a 6, while thoroughly enjoying it, is that I don't feel that the ending is earned. The men, on one hand, are the heroes in this story. Toby, because he wants to be what he is because it's good for the world and despite everything, and even mistakes, he stays to be the grown up and raise the kids with that same message that life is better spent serving the world than simply accumulating wealth and status, something his wife is obsessed with. Adam, the narrator's husband, is practically a saint, juggling a career and the kids while his unemployed wife wallows in the bad fortune of getting everything she signed up for. Normally, it would be the women doing this as heroes, and I absolutely love that FIIT swapped those roles (so much swapping goes on in TV and film nowadays, it's refreshing to see it actually be a good thing). I just don't think either of the women earned the happy endings they got, despite the very real struggles they both went through. Men don't get that luxury. If they behaved in this way, they'd be excommunicated from the marriage and women would say, "serves you right. you go girl. men are pigs." I can tell you from personal experience that being abandoned into the role of single parent is not something that is easy to forgive or forget, but FIIT seems to allow it for the sake of love.

The acting is substantial. The chemistry from all four of the leads is inspiring. The way Danes and Eisenberg are able to overlap dialogue until their fights are at a crescendo would make Noah Baumbach pause and take notice.