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Living with Yourself
To answer your first question, yes, Netflix’s new dueling Paul Rudds comedy Living with Yourself is worth your time. To answer your second question, no, the Paul Rudds don’t end up parent-trapping anyone, which is a real missed opportunity if you ask me.
Premiering Friday, Timothy Greenberg’s Living with Yourself is a genre-defying series that features a little comedy, a bit of sci-fi, and a lot of Paul Rudd. A mordant, admittedly strange take on middle-age malaise, the series centers on Rudd’s character Miles, a married man struggling with the harsh realities of life. His best days are behind him at work; he’s struggling with the idea of starting a family at home; and the feeling of ennui that occasionally distresses us all is inching dangerously close to becoming his permanent factory setting. In desperate need of an A to Z jolt, Miles undergoes an enigmatic $50,000 “spa treatment” that promises to “rebuild your DNA to create a better you.”
Evidently, Miles has never experienced the intoxicating rush of a truly potent cup of coffee.
The dubious procedure goes awry, resulting in the original Miles being replaced by a new and improved version of himself. The specifics of this calamity are best left unspoiled, but the end result is that there are two different versions of Miles but only one life. No need to check your work, friend. That arithmetic just doesn’t add up.
Falling somewhere in between Russian Doll and Maniac in both tone and quality, I wouldn’t go as far as to say Living with Yourself is an absolute “must-see” but it’s definitely an absolute “should-see.” The series continuously subverts expectations, always zigging when you expect it to be zagging. The eight-episode season is tailor-made for the binge era, devouring story at a breakneck pace while ending almost every episode on a cliffhanger. It’s a textbook “just one more episode” show.
Plus, the entire season can be streamed in about three-and-a-half hours. A true Peak-TV miracle!
I know this sounds insane, especially when you consider that Paul Rudd’s been around since the advent of talkies, but Living with Yourself is Rudd’s best overall performance. You might prefer Ant-Man Paul Rudd or find him funnier in I Love You, Man, but the actor truly dazzles in his dual roles, bringing an undeniable movie star energy to the small screen. Despite portraying two characters who are physically identical (the twosome have slightly different hair styles) viewers are never confused about Miles’ identity. Rudd delivers a truly virtuosic performance as he flawlessly toggles between emotional extremes.
Considering his prolific body of work this sounds crazy, but watching Living with Yourself will make you ask: Have we actually been underrating Paul Rudd?
It’s difficult to talk about specifics when it comes to Living with Yourself because it’s a show best enjoyed with a clean slate. Matching Rudd’s theatrical bonafides every step of the way is This Way Up standout Aisling Bea, who portrays Miles’ justifiably perplexed wife Kate. A lesser show would have left Kate in the dark regarding Miles’ secret, but Living with Yourself eventually embraces the drama, which gives Bea a chance to shine. What do you do when you meet an enhanced version of the person you’ve vowed to spend the rest of your life with?
The series certainly has a lot to say about the rigors of modern marriage and existential dread, but unlike most shows that employ elements of sci-fi, the program focuses on the micro stories of Miles 1, Miles 2, and Kate as opposed to the macro implications of human cloning. You may not agree with all of the show’s choices, but you’ll appreciate that the series manages to produce something that feels distinctly original. At some points it feels like a bizarro version of It’s a Wonderful Life, while at other times it seems more like a sci-fi infused exploration of mid-life malaise. Either way it’s a fun ride you won’t regret taking.
Living With Yourself premieres Friday, October 18 on Netflix.
