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Rose Matafeo in the BBC comedy Starstruck, now streaming on TVNZ OnDemand. (Photo: Supplied)
Rose Matafeo in the BBC comedy Starstruck, now streaming on TVNZ OnDemand. (Photo: Supplied)

Pop CultureApril 28, 2021

Review: Starstruck is a hilarious millennial riff on a classic romcom tale

Rose Matafeo in the BBC comedy Starstruck, now streaming on TVNZ OnDemand. (Photo: Supplied)
Rose Matafeo in the BBC comedy Starstruck, now streaming on TVNZ OnDemand. (Photo: Supplied)

Rose Matafeo does it again with new series Starstruck – a joyful and unabashedly Kiwi take on the Notting Hill story, writes Alie Benge.

Starstruck opens with Jessie (Rose Matafeo) in a sparkly dress, arguing with her flatmate outside a nightclub on New Year’s Eve. She’s convinced to wing-man her friend, then gets drunk, and goes home with a man she met in the men’s bathroom. In his house the next morning, she pulls back the bubble wrap on a framed movie poster leaned against the wall, recognises the face of the man upstairs, and realises who he is. She has slept with movie star Tom Kapoor. Clear your schedule for the end of the month, and push your laundry off the couch, because you’ll want to binge this one.

Starstruck immediately reminded me of the UK comedy Catastrophe with its quippy banter between the two leads, and a quick Google revealed it was produced by the same crowd, which is fantastic news because there was never quite enough Catastrophe. Starstruck is written by Matafeo and fellow New Zealander Alice Snedden, who both seem to absolutely nail everything they put their hands to, and they clearly have a knack for pitting Kiwi awkwardness against British awkwardness. Tom has a bumbling physical discomfort about him, while Jessie is rambling and deprecating – of both herself and Tom. At one point, they say goodbye before walking off in the same direction. After a joke about whether Jessie is a super fan who will kill Tom she says, “Oh please, I’m not a fan.” I was laughing the entire episode.

In the 2000s romantic comedies moved away from lo-fi classics and problematic faves like 10 Things I Hate About You and My Best Friend’s Wedding, to highly stylised films (usually starring Katherine Heigl) that lacked the spark of their ancestors. Starstruck feels like a return to that earlier lo-fi era. The characters don’t sport perfect blowouts, or live in completely unrealistic flats. They look like you and your friends; they have the same conversations you have outside clubs on New Year’s. They’re you, but funnier.

Starstruck is something we don’t see so much any more, at least on the big screen: a romantic comedy with depth and charm. Observational comedy works best when the characters live in the same world as us. And this comedy is beautifully observational. Though tipping its hat to the golden era of romcoms, it updates the style by observing the ways we live, work and date now. The first male character we meet mansplains Bitcoin, Jessie has to chase her Uber down the street, and she has that shitty ex we all recognise, the one we debase ourselves in front of and who absolutely is not worth it.

Nikesh Patel as Tom and Rose Matafeo as Jessie in Starstruck (Photo: Supplied)

Every generation gets its own redo of the “famous person falls for normal person” story. You can trace a lineage from Roman Holiday, to Notting Hill, and now to Starstruck. There’s something about this trope that plays into a very human fantasy – not just to be loved by someone much further up the social ladder, but to have that love enviously observed by friends and exes. The most satisfying moment of Notting Hill is when Hugh Grant takes Julia Roberts to meet his flabbergasted friends. In the same way, the most satisfying moments of Starstruck are when Jessie and Tom’s relationship is seen by others: when her ex sees the two of them together, for example, or when Tom walks into her kitchen to find Jessie’s stunned flatmate – the same flatmate who had earlier wonderfully acknowledged the trope at the heart of the show: “He’s a famous actor and you’re a little rat nobody.” This fairytale is the slightly more plausible version of marrying a prince. It’s a version that exists in a world where princes don’t roam forests, but where celebrities frequent bars. It feels unlikely – but vaguely possible. Starstruck is a hilarious, joyful riff on this old story.

I expect every review will mention that this is essentially a gender-reversed Notting Hill – it’s not a hot take. The show doesn’t seem to deny this association. In fact, it plays it up. It allows us to form expectations based on our familiarity with the film, and then surprises us by flipping those expectations. This is executed perfectly when Jessie leaves Tom’s flat in the morning, opening the door to a crowd of flashing cameras. We know this scene: she’ll end up in the press, it’ll be the central turning point, and the catalyst for all the drama that follows. But instead, we get an anti-climax. The scene comes to nothing because one of the paparazzi calls out, “It’s just the cleaner!” and the cameras stop flashing. Starstruck isn’t just a retelling. It’s absolutely its own thing. It’s like putting clean sheets on the bed; it’s the same old bed, but it feels like new. It takes incredible skill to reanimate a familiar story, and make it feel fresh.

Nothing thrills New Zealanders like hearing other countries talk about us. We all know that feeling in a cinema when a character on screen says “New Zealand”. You can feel the energy change. Pairs everywhere nudge each other. This is deeply uncool and I try to be chill and above it all, but I still feel a little glow of recognition hearing a Kiwi accent in an HBO/BBC production, and not just the accent, but a Kiwi sensibility in the humour. Rose Matafeo’s spike in popularity feels like personal recognition. It’s like we all grew up in the same house, and sent someone out to spread the good news of New Zealand. I’m sometimes shocked when I remember Kiwi celebrities don’t actually know me.

Seeing Kiwiness be recognised and loved by an international audience feels a little like a famous person falling for a normal person. Seeing a Kiwi take centre stage in Starstruck, a BBC show costarring Minnie Driver? Forgive my hyperbole, but it’s like Hugh Grant bringing Julia Roberts to dinner – a Notting Hill experience every New Zealander can share.

Starstruck airs at 9.30pm on Wednesdays on TVNZ2. All episodes will become available on TVNZ OnDemand at the same time.


In the new episode of The Spinoff’s TV and pop culture podcast The Real Pod, Alex Casey and Jane Yee mourn the recently announced death of Pods and recap the latest from MAFS AU and Popstars. Subscribe and listen on Apple PodcastsSpotify or your favourite podcast provider.

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Strap your red bonnet on, it’s time for season four of The Handmaid’s Tale. (Photo: Hulu)
Strap your red bonnet on, it’s time for season four of The Handmaid’s Tale. (Photo: Hulu)

Pop CultureApril 28, 2021

Blessed be the new season of The Handmaid’s Tale

Strap your red bonnet on, it’s time for season four of The Handmaid’s Tale. (Photo: Hulu)
Strap your red bonnet on, it’s time for season four of The Handmaid’s Tale. (Photo: Hulu)

It’s been two years since we said goodbye to June and the gang at the end of the third season of The Handmaid’s Tale. As we prepare for a return to Gilead, Tara Ward takes a look at the hints to be gleaned from the new season trailer.

In the words of Aunt Lydia, we’re “pumped” for the new season of The Handmaid’s Tale. It’s been a long time between dystopias, and two long years have passed since we last saw rebellious handmaid June Osbourne fighting the good fight in Gilead. The award winning series about one woman’s survival in a totalitarian state returns to Neon on April 29, bringing new episodes of dark drama, steely looks and heart-crushing emotion.

Last season ended on one heck of a cliffhanger, with June (Elizabeth Moss) near death after helping 86 Gilead children escape to Canada. She led an underground army of handmaids and Marthas to smuggle out the children on a cargo flight from Gilead to Canada, in an effort to strike where it would hurt Gilead the most: its future. The plane landed safely in Canada, but did the children’s freedom cost June her life?

The show’s latest trailer provides plenty of clues about what might go down this season, and after three seasons of small gains, it looks like it’s finally kicking off. June is fighting back and her allies are uniting to help her, and it seems like she might catch a break and taste freedom. June, safe in Canada? It’s more surprising than the time Aunt Lydia hooned around on her mobility scooter, but I’m here for every anxious second. Freedom is just the beginning, so let’s find out what we can expect from season four of The Handmaid’s Tale.  

June 

We’ve spent months wondering if June would survive being shot, but praise be, the season four trailer shows our heroine roaming around war-torn Gilead, determined to blow the system up from the inside. Having exposed herself as a Mayday resistance leader, June is now a fugitive on the run, but where will she go? Who can she trust?

June is hellbent on revenge, but while all of Gilead searches for her and the other rebel handmaids, we see June claiming asylum on a dock with a Canadian flag flying in the background. Does this mean — deep breath — June escapes Gilead and makes it to safety? What about her daughter Hannah, the reason June stayed in Gilead all this time? If this shot at freedom turns out to be a dream sequence, I think I’ll cry. 

The Waterfords 

Our favourite villains ended last season in the most satisfying way, having been arrested in Canada after mistakenly crossing the border in search of their adopted daughter Nichole. They’re facing years in prison for war crimes — or are they? The trailer shows Fred (Joseph Fiennes) and Serena (Yvonne Strahovski) walking free to the cheers of a rapturous crowd, and later we see Fred studying an ultrasound image of a baby.

Should we expect the pitter-patter of tiny Waterford feet? It’s a terrifying thought, but here’s something even scarier: if the Waterfords return to Gilead and Serena can bear children, will she be forced to become a handmaid after the birth? Gilead is within you, on so many levels.

Don’t cry, Aunt Lydia! Season four is almost here. (Photo: Hulu)

Aunt Lydia

Old mate will be spewing that her precious handmaids went rogue at the end of last season, and she’ll be in for a big telling off from the men in charge. We see a battered and bruised Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd in her Emmy-winning role) in the trailer, and as Gilead falls around her, she’ll no doubt double down on the dystopian oppression to ensure her own survival. Blessed be the fruit, blessed be a vengeful auntie with a cattle prod.

Commander Lawrence

June’s newest Commander lost both his wife and his handmaid at the end of last season, and now he’s got the underground army hiding in his basement. It’s just another day in dystopia for this slippery little sucker, but does Lawrence (Bradley Whitford) suspect June’s role in his wife’s death? Will he use that information against June to protect himself, or will the man who created Gilead be instrumental in its downfall? Probably both, he is nothing if not unpredictable. 

Nick

June’s discovery that her boyfriend Nick (Max Minghella) was an Eye added another messy layer to her complicated trifle of emotions. The new season shows Nick still has strong feelings for the mother of his child, despite Commander Lawrence warning him that “she served her purpose, it’s time to move on”. Whatever happens, Nick is sure to lurk in corners looking melancholy and we will lap it up like the thirsty weirdos we are. Oh Nick, you absolute mood of a man.

Luke, Moira, Rita and Emily 

Just because it’s Canada, doesn’t mean it’s fun. The angst continues for June’s squad in the land of milk and honey, where June’s husband Luke cares for baby Nichole and best friend Moira continues her search for June. Even if June does make it to Canada, how can they be a family again after everything that’s happened, or worse, what if June doesn’t like poutine or ice hockey? Praise be, can’t wait to find out on April 29.

The first three episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale premiere on Neon on April 29 and weekly on Thursdays thereafter. 

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