NETFLIX'S 'LOVE'.........THE UN-ROMCOM

Love (2016), producer-writer Judd Apatow's Netflix series perversely takes all the tropes of "Annie Hall" and reflects them back through a warped funhouse mirror, in which the once clever adorable hipster couple are now monstrously obnoxious. Their many flaws no longer come off as precious and endearing. Instead.....these people are just goddamned annoying and we practically revel in the cringe-inducing moments they inflict on each other. You won't hear Apatow's would-be sweethearts swap clever one liners........more often, they'll blurt out horribly wrong things to one another at the most inappropriate moments.......then go off to lick their wounds from the emotional pain.

            Apatow's been plowing this field in feature films for a while now, but in the two seasons of "Love", he boldly pushes human embarrassment and awkwardness to epic levels, daring you to not to turn away. Imagine 'La La Land' with no music and taking place in a more hellish version of Los Angeles, the L.A. we truly imagine, populated with supremely self-absorbed idiots all trying to break into the movies and TV......"Day Of The Locust", only minus the apocalyptic stampede.....

            Our lovebirds are Gus(Paul Rust) a painfully neurotic aspiring screenwriter reduced to tutoring a wickedly precocious child actress and Mickie (Gillian Jacobs) a self described 'sex and love' addict, an alcoholic who's left behind as many toxic relationships as empty liquor bottles. They shouldn't be anywhere near each other.....Jacobs exudes sexual danger and Rust looks like a comic book caricature of a hopeless nerd. Normally, you'd want to root for this relationship to work....the nerd-beauty combo never failed to warm our hearts in countless 80's and 90's romcoms.

            But that's not Judd Apatow's game here......he indulges wantonly in Mickey and Gus's dysfunctions and invites you to dislike them.....and he doesn't make it hard.  Mickey's a one woman self-destructive tornado and on the surface, Gus appears as a stammering, good-hearted soul.....but stay with him for more than a few episodes and you realize he's a weak-willed, self-pitying whiner with a deep streak of condescending arrogance that erupts at the worst possible moments for him.  No sweet-natured nerd.....he's more of a hip Uriah Heep.

            If you can stand to watch these two damaged souls flail around as they attempt a relationship, you can extract some creepy, uncomfortable laughs. Jacobs and Rust are completely fearless in bringing these blighted people to life......you feel simultaneous empathy and disgust  for Mickey as she suffers through her bad choices and you almost raise your fist in triumph when Gus (in one of the show's most brilliantly written scenes) implodes his own fledgling TV writing career.  You have to admire these actors' guts......no 'very special episodes' to make you cry here....only cringe. (Special mention to the episode where Gus takes Mickey on a disastrous date to his favorite place, L.A's famed "Magic Castle"......we briefly fell back in love with Mickey for her overall contempt of magicians' shtick....)

          "Love" sure isn't for everybody.... but the BQ suggests you dip your toe in a few episodes, to see if it's something you'd want to experience.  Just remember that these people will definitely not morph into Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan somewhere down the road......we'll hand out 2 & 1/2 hearts.(** 1/2).....in this show, you always hurt the one you love.....