If you take one nugget from this Mammals review, make it this: stick with it beyond the first five minutes.
Anyone who can’t stand James Corden – and there are a few, myself included – will be tempted to turn his latest drama straight off.
That’s because he crashes on to the screen in full-on James Corden mode…
Yes, that’s right, mouthy and over-confident!
It’s Gavin & Stacey‘s Smithy on steroids.
We’ve seen it ALL before – including in his current role as host of The Late Late Show.
Yawn.
But hang in there, as the James Corden we love to loathe emerges playing a very different character over the six half-hour episodes.
So if you can bear it for the first few irritating minutes, you’ll be hooked.
Here’s our Mammals review…
Mammals review
There’s a delicious irony about James Corden playing a chef – given his recent spat with staff in a New York restaurant.
He’s stepping down as host of The Late Late Show in 2023 to “see what else might be out there”.
And this Amazon Prime show is, presumably, the start of it.
His character, Jamie, seems to have it all – until he discovers his wife Amandine (Melia Kreiling) is having an affair.
Standard drama fare, you might think. It’s been done to death.
Jamie’s irritatingly doting. Beautiful, French Amandine is just plain unlikeable. Frothy and flirty.
Plus Amandine’s urge to have rampant sex with Champagne in a hot tube in early pregnancy won’t ring true with many women. Head down the toilet would be more accurate.
But this is a story that turns darker and darker.
Jamie decides to keep schtum about her affair, and carry on life as normal while he digs deeper.
Should I watch Mammals on Amazon Prime Video?
You’ll find no spoilers here, but a couple of early, massive plot-holes which had me screaming at the TV come out well in the wash. That’s why it’s worth watching to the end.
Set to a soft jazz soundtrack, Mammals is really the story of two marriages: Jamie and Amandine’s, and that of Jamie’s gentle, away-with-the-fairies sister Lue, beautifully portrayed by Sally Hawkins.
Lue spends most of her time distracted, in a fantasy world, imagining she works with Coco Chanel in 1920’s Paris.
She’s desperate to escape the reality of humdrum life with husband Jeff (Colin Morgan), who is chef Jamie’s best friend.
Later, Amandine’s billionaire ex-boyfriend Jack rocks up, triumphantly played by Indian Summers star Henry Lloyd-Hughes.
His scenes on a super-yacht in Monaco serve up wall-to-wall blue skies and glorious glamour, making for perfect autumn/winter viewing.
Is Mammals actually any good?
Part of the problem – especially with the opening episode – is Mammals doesn’t know if it’s a comedy or a drama.
James Corden doesn’t seem to know either, and that makes for uncomfortable viewing at first. Which is why I hope viewers don’t turn off.
Of course, wonderful comedy-drama exists – American Beauty, to name the Goliath of dark humour about marriage – but, in the early stages, Mammals doesn’t properly blend the two.
One moment Jamie’s sobbing, the next he’s throwing up beside Sir Tom Jones (who pops up briefly in a cameo role).
But maybe that’s the point. Because ultimately it’s an acerbic take on marriage and fidelity, and that’s an uncomfortable, messy topic in itself.
As the story developed, I found myself warming to James Corden‘s Jamie, though Melia Kreiling’s Amandine left me cold.
She’s written as an unsympathetic, fiery flirt – which Kreiling totally nails.
But it’s impossible to understand why Jamie stays with her. All she seems to have going for her is her looks. And he doesn’t seem that shallow…
So even though I can’t bear James Corden, and didn’t warm to Amandine, I had to watch to the end, just to find out what happened to their relationship. And I’m glad I did.
Writer Jez Butterworth weaves a clever tale – much cleverer than you think at first – which at times emotionally catches you unawares.
We may be mammals, acting like animals on our desires. But the series also shows the fragility of human emotions and relationships, glued together for better but often for worse.
There are so many endings which bitterly disappoint (Game of Thrones, anyone?) but this isn’t one of them. I bet a million quid that no-one will see this one coming.
Mammals review: Is Sally Hawkins good in Mammals?
Of course Sally Hawkins is good in Mammals. Sally Hawkins is good in everything.
It’s the understated moments between her character Lue and husband Jeff which really slice through.
As Jeff recalls a funny memory, Lue gazes into the distance, her mind floating elsewhere.
“Cup of tea?” Jeff asks gently, interrupting her thoughts.
“Lovely,” Lue replies.
The unspoken horror of a couple unable to communicate, summed up in four words. Devastatingly written and portrayed.
That said, after a while the Lue storyline feels shoehorned in, especially when there are loooong scenes based on Lue’s 1920’s Parisian fantasies.
They’re beautifully shot and acted – and a big shout-out to the wardrobe department – but I found myself wanting to fast-forward and get on with the Jamie/Amandine storyline. That’s the real hook.
Mammals review: Is James Corden annoying in it?
Yes. And no.
At first he lives up to every expectation – fans will love him from the off, haters will loathe.
Peak Corden. Smug and irritating.
Then there are times when you want to shake his character and scream: “Just leave her!”
Because the series is six, half-hour episodes, it rattles along at a fair pace and his character quickly becomes more complex and sympathetic.
There were even moments later on – yes, really – when I forgot Jamie was James Corden.
So he must be doing something right.
Read more: James Corden stars in Mammals: All you need to know about his new comedy
All episodes of Mammals are available to stream on Amazon Prime Video from November 11 2022.
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