Search Party (2016)

Search Party cements itself as a modern comedy classic. ... Once again delivering perfect performances and writing sharp enough to cut.

This season rivals its predecessors in its intoxicating blend of bleak cynicism and irreverent comedy, but embraces a more exaggerated, madcap sensibility.

Like a super-sized Columbo case, the culprits have already been identified, and they’re shockingly, hilariously tracking bloody footprints across New York City. They, and Search Party, seem like they’re in over their heads at the start, but it only gets better the deeper they go.

The internalized guilt of all four leads proves fascinating (and damn funny) to behold as it bursts out in various ways, for various reasons. ... This search is quite a pleasure.

Search Party certainly hasn't lost its sense of humor, which underscores the callousness and posturing many of the characters demonstrate. ... [Showrunners] Bliss and Rogers have an equal adeptness for genre and composition.

The season is peppered with great cameos and supporting players, but elevating and humanizing it all is a magnificent performance by Shawkat. She turns Dory into a funny, affecting, even profound cautionary tale about finding meaning in someone else’s life.

The cast is exceptional, never carrying themselves as if they are above the often confused, petty, or weak characters they portray; Shawkat in particular is a revelation, at times channeling the doe-eyed distress of Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby. This is just a great show, refreshingly unafraid to twist the knife--a late-breaking candidate for best series of 2016.

It’s engaging, thoughtful television, and whether or not it can sustain its unique tone isn’t pertinent right now. What matters is the journey, and it’s been a charming, introspective and telling one so far.

The production on Search Party is cinematic, with spot-on young-poor-people apartments and a score that sways—like the series itself--from light-hearted to menacing and back. The ultimate reveal, when it arrives, is extremely satisfying, even though it potentially upends everything that came before it.

Uneven, intelligent, weird, sometimes funny (more often not)--and almost consistently engaging.

This is perhaps the most deeply cynical series I have ever seen. Virtually every character on the show is intensely unlikable with few if any redeeming qualities, and this includes peripheral characters who barely have any screen time. Some have said this show is an indictment of Millenials, but given that the cast includes people from other demographics, the show feels more like a "hate letter" to humanity. The only person who isn't a raging narcissist (Dory, the main character) eventually makes some incredibly bad, selfish choices. I found it impossible to root for *anyone* on this show, and that makes it hard to care about what happens. I initially gave up after season 1 episode 3. But a friend convinced me to stick with it, so I did. The life-changing event that happens at the end of season 1 drastically changes the tone of the show, and it made me want to know what the consequences would be. From that standpoint, the show becomes interesting as we watch the main characters fumble through their lives, hoping their collective, dark secret won't be revealed, and that's what's keeping we watching (it isn't the laughs, which are very few and far between, though some viewers will surely find the caricatures funnier than I do). However, while there have been a couple of exceedingly brief glimpses of humanity in a couple of characters, I'm now at the beginning of season 3 and haven't seen anything that makes me care any more about any of the characters. With only a couple of exceptions, I feel like I'm watching nothing but two-dimensional caricatures (well acted, to be fair) who consistently provide no reason to care about what happens to them. I honestly don't know how much more I can take of these people who are just mired in apparent disdain for everyone including themselves. Part of me wonders if the intent of this show is to make viewers feel better about themselves by portraying people who are so deeply unlikable that you can't help but feel you're not so bad. But it feels manipulative and hollow to me. I'll see if the story keeps my interest through season 3, but I'm gonna have to see some change in the characters to stick with this for 5 seasons.

This show is fantastic and hilarious. Most comedies are lucky to get a single chuckle from me over the course of a season; Search Party gets several genuine laughs every episode. WATCH IT

If you must, watch the show until they find Chantal and save yourself the trouble after. Then go watch Only Murders in The Building to rinse your brain of the garbage pile you had to endure. Currently finishing Season 3 and it has become a guilty pleasure dumpster fire. Since Episode 1 I cared for none of the characters. The actors tried really hard to give life to the characters, but none of them actually learn anything or experience any major change THROUGH THREE SEASONS. Whenever there is a dramatic montage, the inspirations for it are way too obvious. Seeing the ghost of someone you killed/falling slow-mo into water, it's all been done before, and done better than how this show executed it. When Dory gets in some sort of mental breakdown, it happens so much, and plot never develops through them, so I roll my eyes. This isn't arrested development or a family sitcom where each new episode is the start of a new loop. The plot is constantly moving, yet none of the characters learn in any way, and people keep getting away with things. Whenever the stakes were raised, it's abruptly brought back down. After season 2, it feels like the writers did not even suspect the show to last any longer, because every episode in season 3 feels like the writers only wrote one episode at a time without planning the next one out beforehand. Around Season 3, the joke writing became so lazy, they are cringe-worthy. The jokes do not fully come off as written by out-of-touch boomers, but do not fare much better. Every minor character seems two dimensional and trope-y. I started yelling at every character for not learning anything and every character for being generally frustrating. I don't need to like anyone, but give me a reason to keep watching. There are some fun cameos here and there, but they end up feeling like mere distractions. In summary, the cinematography is uninspired, the characters are all bumbling idiots, no one learns a thing, I don't know how this is reviewed so highly or got 5 seasons, when Kimmy Schmidt, Ozark, and Russian Doll are all way better and have less seasons. What a dumpster fire of a show. Were the writers blackmailed into working on this show? Oh and I just remembered, when Drew was learning Chinese on an app to work in Shanghai, the voice actor they hired for the Chinese app obviously didn't speak Chinese. You'd think the writers would know one Chinese person in their circles to offer some insight on Shanghai-ese or at least decent Mandarin. In today's age where there are so many quality tv shows of all genres, Search Party is a complete waste of time, devoid of substance. I never actually devoted my time into this show exclusively while watching it, and I am very glad I did not. Watch Atlanta. Watch Euphoria. Watch Brooklyn 99. Watch Curb. Killing Eve. Hell, I'd put 13 Reasons Why over this mess.

I've completed watching all 5 seasons of Search Party. Again, I find the casting to be among the best efforts I have experienced. Casting directors Gayle Keller, Seth White, Cody Beke did exceptional work. The acting, directing, writing, costumes, makeup, etc all came together to result in one of the most satisfying serious I have ever experienced. I always find it hard to give comedies high ratings - but, I'm rating this series a 9 which I believe is probably the highest rating I have ever given a film of this genre. ************************************************************ I am in the middle of season 3 and I have returned for the second time to raise my rating. I almost never rate any film - and definitely not comedies as high as a 9. The casting and directing of Search Party blows me away. This is one of the very few series I have rated as high as a 9. Acting and writing are solid 7s to 8s. ************************************************************ Search Party is a sit-com involving a group of gen-z friends searching for a missing friend. I had never thought I would watch this series - but, it consistently gets favorable reviews - so, I watched season 1. The casting is very good and makes me wonder why so many films have such bad casting. Gayle Keller was the casting director and, in my opinion, she is one of the prime reasons Search Party is of such high quality. Seth White, Cody Beke continued the excellent casting in seasons 2 through 5. Regardless, the good acting and good writing mesh well and make for some entertaining distraction. ************************************************* I'm halfway through season 3 and I came back to Metacritic to raise my rating from 7 to 8 - primarily on the strength of the directing. But, the casting continues to empress me. In a scene near the end of season 3, episode 3 there is a meeting of 21 women. I re-watched the scene a couple of times because there was exactly 1 actor who was bad. She didn't have a speaking part - but, she stood out so much because she was surrounded by well cast actors. The bad actor was just sitting there doing absolutely nothing and almost ruined the scene. I think casting directors think they can slip bad actors into a film and it won't make too much of a difference - but, it does.

This is one of the funniest shows that no one talks about enough, with a great cast that make you forget that they are acting. Give it a watch.

This show is brilliant, outrageous and hilarious. It beautifully encapsulates the tragic narcissism of self-obsessed millennial types. There is even a gay wedding with the theme: Attention. Don't miss this show!

A lot of people say this show took a dark turn in Season 2, and to some degree it did. But I wonder what show those people were watching in Season 1, because it was always dark realism where the humor was rooted in the narcissism of the main characters. It's hard to make covering up a murder funny, but it works. The characters just keep digging deeper holes for themselves through their selfish behavior and the humor is in their kind of clawing desperation to keep finding ways out through more selfishness.