The Studio review: Seth Rogen’s scathing showbiz satire can take Apple to the next level; it’s a Ted Lasso-level triumph

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Sometimes, these two clashing personalities find themselves shaking hands, like when Matt offers Martin Scorsese $250 million to make a movie about the Jonestown massacre. Two birds, one stone, he figures. The studio gets their Kool-Aid movie, and he gets to brag about bagging Scorsese. But when he’s told that he cannot possibly do this, he pretends to have bought Scorsese’s script only to take it off the market, and to stop rivals from besmirching the blessed name of Kool-Aid. The Studio is given a dash of prestige thanks to an appearance by Scorsese. He’s one of the many industry big-wigs who drop by for quick cameos, usually to observe Matt making a mockery of himself. It’s left to him to tell the iconic filmmaker that Continental wouldn’t be going ahead with the Jonestown movie after all. Instead, Matt greenlights a cringe animated comedy that makes The Emoji Movie seem like a masterpiece.

In a particularly hilarious bottle episode in the middle of the season, Matt and his team get together to debate whether hiring a Black actor to voice the Kool-Aid Man is racist. Or, is it more racist to not hire a Black actor. Is it racist to even discuss such a thing? Would it be less racist if they hire an Asian actor to voice Kool-Aid Man’s wife? Are we talking about a mixed-race family? Should they be queer as well? It’s exaggerated to an absurd degree, but it’s funny because you know that a version of this conversation might actually be taking place in a studio conference room somewhere.

Episode three, titled The Oner, is perhaps the season’s stand-out chapter. Filmed in a ‘oner’ itself, the episode follows Matt and his buddy Saul — he’s played by Ike Barinholtz in the single funniest performance of the show — making their way to the set of Oscar-winner Sarah Polley’s new film, starring Greta Lee. Matt keeps trying to project himself as an approachable boss, but fails spectacularly. He routinely ruins takes, makes a nuisance of himself, and antagonises Polley to a point where she has him ejected from set. The episode not only captures the chaotic nature of film production, but also makes delicate points about the human desire for connection, power dynamics, and petty politics. And as if this weren’t enough, the one-take gimmick makes it a technical achievement as well.

A vintage Hollywood aesthetic wafts over every frame of the show — at one point, Matt proclaims himself to be the saviour of celluloid, and later, he gets into an argument with actual cancer doctors about whether making movies can change the world. To think that Rogen and his long-time creative partner Evan Goldberg have come from writing the semi-autobiographical comedy classic Superbad to helming something as technically refined as The Studio proves that talent finds its way, even in a town as hollow as Hollywood. This idea is represented in the show by the young executive Quinn, played by Chase Sui Wonders, who begins as Matt’s assistant and grows in prominence through the season. Kathryn Hahn, on the other hand, is absolutely unhinged as Maya, Continental’s tactless marketing head. Among other things, The Studio is also a workplace comedy, with Matt playing the eccentric boss archetype modelled on Ted Lasso and Michael Scott.

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Matt has that same desperation to be liked; it’s a little pathetic, but also very endearing. Becoming a studio head was his dream, and he’s living it. But being forced to tell Ron Howard that the third act of his most personal film sucks, having to placate Zac Efron after crashing his party, and inadvertently giving Zoë Kravitz a tonne of drugs certainly burst his bubble about the high life. A running gag in the show involves him literally falling on his face. And yet, somehow, he appears to be failing upwards. Having survived Hollywood for three decades now, Rogen and Goldberg surely have an insight into the inner workings of the dream factory. There’s jealousy, the allure of fame, the dangling carrot of eternal glory… Matt wants it all.

The penultimate episode has Matt trying to get himself a thank you at the Golden Globes, for the behind-the-scenes role that he has played in getting a picture greenlit. He goes to incredible lengths to make this happen, including tampering with the teleprompter. It’s a broad but largely accurate depiction of fragile egos. Annoyed that Ted Sarandos from Netflix gets god-level shout-outs from his people, he corners him in the bathroom and demands to know what sorcery is at play. Sarandos, who makes a surprise cameo as himself, tells Matt that his collaborators are contractually obligated to give him shout-outs. How sporting of him to confess such petty behaviour. Like the recent HBO sitcom The Franchise, a send-up of the risk-averse nature of contemporary Hollywood, The Studio doesn’t merely want to bite the hand that feeds. It isn’t even about the Faustian bargain that those involved in show business readily make in exchange of money, power, glory. To survive, Matt must mask his sincerity under a layer of slyness. That’s what makes him such an appealing character; that’s what makes The Studio such a hit.

The Studio
Directors – Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg
Cast – Seth Rogen, Ike Barinholtz, Kathryn Hahn, Chase Sui Wonders, Catherine O’Hara
Rating – 4.5/5