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- Apple TV+
- Jun 18, 2021
- Apple TV+
- Jun 18, 2021
Summary Set in the 1980s, San Diego housewife Sheila Rubin (Rose Byrne) finds direction with the help of aerobics in this dramedy created, written, and executive produced by Annie Weisman.
Created By: Annie Weisman
- Apple TV+
- Jun 18, 2021
- Apple TV+
- Jun 18, 2021
Summary Set in the 1980s, San Diego housewife Sheila Rubin (Rose Byrne) finds direction with the help of aerobics in this dramedy created, written, and executive produced by Annie Weisman.
Created By: Annie Weisman
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Season Episodes
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Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 21 Critic Reviews
60
48% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
48% Mixed
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
5% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 21 Critic Reviews
60
48% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
48% Mixed
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
5% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
[Rose Byrne] nails the woman’s painful awareness of her true inner ugliness and poignant desperation, often while maintaining a serene facade. It’s a performance that always looks great yet, somehow, never displays an ounce of vanity. Those are just a few impressive aspects of this year’s most observant new sitcom.
It’s darkly funny at times but also deals with serious themes in a way that could turn off some viewers. It lacks the universally appealing, feel-good nature of a show like Ted Lasso. ... But it’s also well made, frequently compelling, and features episodes that come in at under 30 minutes.
No doubt there will be viewers who balk at Sheila’s vitriolic running monologue; nothing is spared from criticism, and no blow is too low. But for anyone who can identify with obsessive thinking tendencies, even in a much milder form, it’s painfully relatable, refreshingly honest, and more than enough to make Sheila’s journey engaging even if she is decidedly lacking in anything that would traditionally be deemed “likable” qualities.
An overabundance of plot and characters means that just like one of Sheila’s workouts, it starts to feel fairly exhausting.
Rose Byrne is an immensely likable actress playing a character who needs help but is too shallow, too self-consumed and too damaged to know where to look. We get the feeling it’s exhausting to be Sheila. And, unfortunately, it’s exhausting to spend so much time with her.
It’s that Physical wants to be so much more, to so many more characters, and it struggles to negotiate the transition between Sheila’s barbed internal world and the lives of everyone else. No one else is as real; no one else has as much agency or space to grow.
Byrne’s been handed a lead role but saddled with a rudimentary sketch of a character. Sheila’s pains and compulsions are real and will be relatable to many, but they’re anchored in nothing particular about her. What we see, with unfettered access to Sheila’s inner life, is a person who can’t bear to have a single sincere thought. As a tribute to the ethos of the 1980s, this corrosive irony may in fact be perfectly pitched — but what was unbearable then remains so now.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 12 User Ratings
5.3
42% Positive
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
33% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
25% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 12 User Ratings
5.3
42% Positive
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
33% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
25% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
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