‘Minx’ on HBO Max Review: Full of Fun, Feminism, and Full-Frontal Male Nudity

There’s a famous saying that it’s hard to define the difference between art and pornography, but you know it when you see it. Similarly, it’s difficult to explain what makes some sitcoms zing from the start and what mires others in their own mess, but HBO Max’s new comedy Minx works.

Minx follows ambitious 1970s feminist Joyce (Ophelia Lovibond) as she reluctantly teams up a sleazy, but sweet porn publisher to launch the first erotic magazine for the female gaze. While Doug (Jake Johnson) sees their mag as a way to capture a yet-untapped market, Joyce is determined to launch a truly progressive magazine, full of incendiary op-eds. Together, the mismatched pair and their cadre of fun office mates deliver the latest joyful new addition to the workplace sitcom genre. Minx is a show that is powered by pleasure and it delivers it in spades.

Created by Ellen Rapoport, Minx opens on Joyce’s dreams. Since childhood, Joyce has wanted to launch a revolutionary magazine called The Matriarchy Awakens to bring feminism to women everywhere. However the only interested publisher she can find is the hustling Doug. He’s not interested in her pious political rag, but an off-handed dig she makes about a magazine full of naked men marketed to women. Doug convinces Joyce to enter his world, in the underbelly of the Valley, where our prim and proper heroine must overcome her own inhibitions and reexamine her preconceptions. Her creation, a magazine called Minx, will sneak her politics in between pages of man meat. But she can’t pull it off alone. Both Minx the show and the magazine are brought to life thanks to a rich ensemble cast of talent.

The thing about Minx that will spark the most chatter is undoubtedly going to be the show’s approach to nudity. Following the trends established by fellow HBO titles like Euphoria, Minx embraces full frontal male nudity as well as female nudity. After all, the show is set at a pornography publisher. Female models casually wander in and out of frame half-dressed in costumes and one of the pilot’s best sequences is an exhaustive casting call for male centerfolds. Unlike Euphoria, which uses nudity to be provocative, Minx is using it to defang the insidious shame associated with sexuality in all forms. In the world of Minx, a penis is just a penis and a breast a mere breast. At one point, a flustered Joyce winds up summing the show’s philosophy best: “Oh, for Pete’s sake, they’re just penises minding their own business. It’s silly and it’s fun.”

That Minx is able to sell this tone is no small feat. It’s surely thanks to the tone established two of Minx‘s biggest creative talents: Ellen Rapoport and Jake Johnson. With Minx, Rapoport uses levity to explore major feminist ideas, thereby sneaking politics to her audience with comedy much as Minx the mag does with dongs. New Girl alum Johnson manages to turn a potentially seedy character into a charming hero. You believe that Doug truly respects every single person working at his company. This attitude infuses all of Minx with an aura of healthy, happy, consensual sexuality. It might be a fairy tale version of a 1970s pornographic publishing house, but hey, this is a sitcom, not a documentary. And Johnson’s performance sneakily sets that positive tone.

Minx is bolstered by a fabulous ensemble cast. Ophelia Lovibond’s splashiest role to date might be playing The Collector’s enslaved assistant Carina in the MCU, but here the British actress gives off major Diane Chambers vibes. Like that classic Cheers character, Joyce is a scholarly feminist with a low level of self-awareness, but unlike Diane, Joyce isn’t being set up as a love interest for the main dude. Doug’s will-they/won’t they is with long-time partner and his company’s better half, Idara Victor’s Tina. Instead Joyce gets to struggle with her attraction to Minx’s first centerfold Shane (Taylor Zakhar Perez), an adorably dense firefighter. Elsewhere Lennon Parham dazzles as Joyce’s biggest supporter, her older sister Shelly, Jessica Lowe shines as model-turned-creative Bambi, and Oscar Montoya is giddy amounts of fun to watch as photographer Richie.

Minx is effervescently fun, full of heart and smarts, and a heck of a lot of promise for what’s still to come. It’s a show that practices what it preaches, consistently prioritizing joy over pain and equality over repression. Minx is a delightful sitcom and just the latest comedy gem in HBO Max’s ever-evolving stable of hits.

Minx premieres on March 17 on HBO Max.

Where to stream Minx