Nobody Wants This is a feel-good romantic comedy written by Lindsay Golder. It was released on Netflix starting from late September, and since then, the series has been one of the top-rated ones both in India and abroad, receiving many positive reviews. Adam Brody and Kristen Bell play the leading roles of Noah and Joanne, and Timothy Simons and Justine Lupe play the roles of siblings of the leads, Sasha Roklov and Morgan. This series has 10 episodes, and each episode runs for around 30 minutes, so one can binge-watch this on a weekend.
If the first meeting between the two lead characters wouldn’t be an awkward one that would give them the butterflies they did not see coming, is it even a romance tale? So yes, in Nobody Wants This, Noah and Joanne meet at an event hosted by a mutual friend, where they engage in casual banter, get along well, and start liking each other instantly. But when Joanne learns that he had been in a relationship until recently, she walks out thinking that he must be just another one of those men she shouldn’t be dating.
Nobody Wants This: so awkward it’s powerful
The harmless flirtation and silly jokes from the very beginning set the perfect stage for a beautiful rom-com. Like most interesting rom-coms, Nobody Wants This also feels like a string of witty, humourous moments tied together, as the bonding between the man and the woman slowly develops into a beautiful connection.
With every new episode, the awkwardness moves a level up, and the comedy just gets funnier in Nobody Wants This. For instance, when they have their official first date, Joanne is forced to get a sex toy for her next podcast episode and Noah is encouraged to pick the right condom from a load of condoms by his friend and brother.
Both of them are nervous, but since it is for work, they should probably purchase the sex toy first, Noah insists, so they go to a sex toy shop, where the two try to playfully convince each other that they can do bondage if that’s what their partner would want. While they are having a playful moment there, they are caught in the act by a board member of the temple. Noah is afraid that this might cost him his job, but that does not happen because – another silly, funny revelation awaits!
So opposites do attract!
The female lead of Nobody Wants This, Joanne is a liberal atheist and the male lead, Noah is from a conservative Jewish family. While this by itself should not be a problem for two people who are just dating, what adds a layer of weirdness to the situation is that she runs a popular podcast with her sister, where they openly talk about sex and he is a rabbi!
As though this is not enough, she is single, with several of her past dates and dating experiences discouraging her from taking dates seriously, and he has only recently ended a long-term relationship, with none of his people being able to accept it yet.
Miscommunication, overthinking, and misunderstanding cause some drama, but on the other hand, Noah understands Joanne’s mind effortlessly, something that not even people close to her do, and her bold personality is something he finds exciting, he says nobody else has made him feel this way before, so they continue to see each other.
What’s noteworthy is that there is not one male character that resembles the alpha male stereotype in Nobody Wants This, yet they are all charming.
What’s noteworthy is that there is not one male character that resembles the alpha male stereotype in Nobody Wants This, yet they are all charming. Not one female character is sexualised, yet they are all lovely. So it’s possible to make a romance film or series this way.
Even the relationships that the two lead characters and their siblings share have been portrayed well, showing how even adult siblings can have fights and arguments over almost anything in their day-to-day lives, while still being supportive of each other. The relationship dynamics among family members in both families also contribute to the comedy. Throughout Nobody Wants This, it’s mostly one person or another saying or doing something funny or embarrassing that keeps the show entertaining. But a romance story can’t always be just fun and laughter, right?
The elephant in the room
Both of them begin to like each other seriously, and that’s when they start thinking over the differences and all the possible reasons why they should probably not pursue the relationship anymore. Noah is in a phase where he has to take his career more seriously than ever, so that he could get a promotion at work, and dating a “shiksa” (a non-Jewish woman) could pose a threat to that. As a successful, independent woman who also wants love, Joanne’s biggest fear is trusting a man who would not appreciate her and would call her “too much” for having normal expectations and leaving her heartbroken.
One can’t be seen with a non-Jewish partner in public because of the fear of being harshly judged by people who look up to him as a mentor, and for the other, their partner not making their relationship public is a big deal-breaker. When their relationship is no longer a secret, Noah feels pressure from the head rabbi and from everyone else in his circle, he knows their relationship does not have a future if she doesn’t convert to Judaism. As a non-religious person who loves her new partner much, Joanne is open to the idea, but her sister warns that she is changing too much for a man, leaving behind all her values.
Nobody Wants This: a sudden shift from rom-com to drama
After a few unpleasant encounters with family members, they start facing difficult situations, while still managing to keep their love for each other unaffected. The awkwardness factor works for most of the part, but towards the end, it gets somewhat suffocating and boring. Towards the end of the seventh episode of Nobody Wants This, you feel as though it’s not just Noah and Joanne trying hard to please each other’s families, but also the director trying equally hard to keep the viewer engaged.
Suddenly, it’s just different women all “bitching” about one another and giving others a hard time. One would begin to doubt if the same writer who wrote the first 6 episodes also wrote the remaining ones.
All is well that ends well
After a few dramatic episodes, the feel-good factor is back. The best part, without a doubt, is the writing. People of all ages, starting from adolescents to the elderly could enjoy watching this series because it is packed with jokes that most people would enjoy, from characters in different generations.
The second-best part of Nobody Wants This is how well Kristen Bell and Adam Brody play their roles; their acting makes it easy for viewers to accept Joanne and Noah, so even for those who cannot relate to either character or the romance brewing between them, this would work because the actors bring their respective characters to life. Adam Brody has nailed this character of Noah who is a religious, soft-spoken rabbi who is also a romantic, assertive man who can please his love on the streets and in the sheets.
Adam Brody has nailed this character of Noah who is a religious, soft-spoken rabbi who is also a romantic, assertive man who can please his love on the streets and in the sheets.
Nobody Wants This makes for a delightful, light-hearted watch. Even if it follows the classic rom-com pattern and can feel tiring for a short period, this one is way better than many other recent rom-coms on Netflix in recent years.
