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Jul 14, 2025 By Kyle Mullin Photography by Netflix

Jessica day dreams of a posh accented Prince Charming sweeping her off her feet, then whisking her off to Buckingham Palace. But when the New York advertising producer finally stops bingeing British period dramas, gets reassigned to London, and sees Buckingham for herself, the glamor of her fantasies gives way to rom-com hijinks that are sure to charm audiences watching this endearingly dysfunctional protagonist on the new Netflix series Too Much (the entire ten episode first season dropped on July 10).

Megan Stalter stars as Jessica, and she’s an absolute delight in what deserves to be the breakout leading role of the year. She’s best known for playing a blissfully, but hilariously oblivious talent agent on HBO’s beloved sitcom Hacks. On Too Much Stalter finally gets to go beyond comic relief. Fans of her turn on Hacks shouldn’t fret— Stalter still knocks hilarious one liners out of the park within the premiere’s first few minutes, telling an Uber driver “Don’t wait for me, don’t worry. I’ve only had one alcohol” after a night out that ends in a darkly funny reunion with her ex and his new beau. But when the plot thankfully picks up beyond her compellingly complex but cringey (actually, toxic) dynamic with her ex, and Jessica is reassigned to London, the audience can better enjoy not only Jessica’s subverted expectations about the image of England. Better still: Stalter’s bittersweet performance, orchestrated by showrunner and co-creator extraordinaire Lena Dunham (of HBO’s Girls fame).

Jessica expected to live in luxury at Tower Hamlet Estate, where her advertising firm rented a room out for her. The company did so after relocating her to lead a UK Christmas ad campaign, because she was floundering in New York, obsessing over the woman her ex dumped her for. But when Jessica arrives, Tower Hamlet Estate is a falsely advertised housing project where she can hear neighbors screaming “cunt!” at each other through the paper thin walls (a far cry from the jolly good slang she was hoping for after watching so much British telly).

Her first tryst with a British gent also did not go as expected. She spots him at a pub on her first night in London: singing dreamily, wearing a blouse even frillier than the deliberately unfashionable threads Jessica comically favors, and later arguing with his girlfriend before she storms off. The charismatic, glam rock indebted open mic-er named Felix is played by Will Sharp, thankfully boasting enough confidence to put the “odd” in “Space Oddity,” especially after the whiny one-note material he muddled through on the nevertheless widely watched second season of The White Lotus. After his gig (given gravitas by Dunham’s husband and Too Much co-creator Luis Felber, a musician), Felix reaches over the top of the unisex loo stall and asks Jess if she has any toilet paper (using more endearing British slang), his painted fingernails gleaming under the naked bulbs. A multitude of jokes are exchanged between the pair, a la Stalter’s zany work on Hacks, which is sure to delight her fans and casual viewers.

What’s more, when Jess makes an awkward advance on Felix and he gently declines, more bittersweet and relatable dialogue ensues, especially when Jess tries to brush it all off as a joke and even goes as far as to say “I was just kidding.” Another encounter between them is much more romantic, lingering on some of the passion between them in a plainly shot way that also reveals some tender awkwardness in the pillow talk of an early, unsure romance.

The latter is much more reminiscent of Dunham’s artsier work on Girls than much of the broader, constant jokes seemingly thrown at the Too Much writers’ room wall to see what sticks. That contrast between Dunham’s auteurism and the upbeat tone akin to Stalter’s work on Hacks is a testament to the co-showrunner’s range on Too Much, her commitment to reach a wider audience, and commendable ability to click with her new muse in Stalter. But those two elements aren’t quite seamless, though they’re by no means jarring.

Yes, Dunham’s fans are sure to prefer the more contemplative, free form feeling scenes between hunky (albeit dorky) Sharp and a female lead who is refreshingly not made up to look like a Barbie doll or to meet the unrealistically sexist standards so often imposed on fluffier rom-coms (and of course Hollywood at large). But it’s nevertheless fascinating to see Dunham meet our moment’s “gourmet TV cheeseburger” cravings rather than the upscale fare (and more flexible budgets) of the 2010s that Dunham came up in. Her chemistry with Stalter, an equally bright talent, is all the more exciting. And that can be seen both behind the camera in her writing and direction, and also onscreen as Stalter and Dunham share moving and hilarious brief early scenes as sisters. What’s more: the legendary Rhea Perlman plays their judgmental but loving grandmother, Rita Wilson co-stars as her overprotective mother, Richard E. Grant plays Jess’ boss, and Jessica Alba even makes an unexpected and surprisingly relatable cameo.

All that and more makes Too Much feel rife with potential, even though it has yet to cohere into a great sitcom in line with the heights that these individual talents have already achieved elsewhere.

Author rating: 7/10