The conversation about “nepo babies” has grown tiresome — and not just because “nepo baby” itself is such an unattractive turn of phrase. (Was “nepotism case” too hard to pronounce, somehow?) The g…
comedy that’s infuriatingly better than it needed to be. Lowes père and fils share executive producer credits with Victor Fresco and Marc Buckland, two creatives with long comedy résumés. And what might have been expected to look like a Lowe family vanity project —has built a sort of performed vanity into his public persona, after all — has ended up as a sharply written comedy with some genuinely great lines.
Here, Rob Lowe plays Ellis Dragon, a biotech entrepreneur who seems to have the future of humanity tantalizingly just beyond his grasp. Ellis is a genius, but one who is easily distractible; he might just save us all, if he could stay on-task. The latest distraction is a sorrowful one, as he mourns his late wife — John Owen Lowe plays his son Jackson, a career flautist who’s called into duty at the lab in order to bring his father back to attentiveness.
There’s real emotion in the performances here, but they’re not just drafting off of the Lowes’ real-life bond, whatever that may be. This was the first time I’d ever seen John Owen Lowe, who previously appeared in a 2017 reality series called “The Lowe Files” with his father and brother; his performance needed to stand or fall on its own terms given my unfamiliarity.
Perhaps his collaborators are rubbing off on Rob Lowe. His son is refreshingly devoid of vanity — at least inasmuch as he’s successfully putting his all into playing a socially inept nerd. And costars including Sian Clifford — so wonderful as the sister of the protagonist on “Fleabag,” and bringing a similar crispness to her role as Ellis’ CFO, just barely keeping him on track.
“Unstable” is not a perfect workplace sitcom — some of its shaggier touches, like Fred Armisen’s wildly oscillating turn as Ellis’ therapist, feel like the product of a creative environment in which a few notes might have kept things a bit more focused. And yet it’s hard not to be charmed by “Unstable,” which is so, so much better than it needed to be in order to entice the Lowe-curious.
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