Nicole Kidman & Liev Schreiber’s Murder Mystery Series Blows Up Netflix Charts

Hey TV fans! Do you like murder mysteries, Nicole Kidman wearing a really bad wig, and Liev Schreiber smoking lots of pot? Then you gotta check out “The Perfect Couple,” now streaming on Netflix. Trust me: this is one of the best trash TV shows in recent memory. “The Perfect Couple” is not really good — you’ll probably forget most of it after you binge through the six episodes. But the show is so unapologetically trashy, so silly, so over-the-top, that you’re bound to have a good old time. It’s a glossy, easy-to-digest series that drops a bunch of beautiful people in an equally beautiful location, and then puts them all in the midst of a murder mystery. 

Comparisons to Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” movies and the HBO series “The White Lotus” are bound to arise, but “The Perfect Couple” isn’t even close to being as good as those things. The dialogue is laughable, the mystery isn’t that compelling, the characters act like cartoons, and every episode begins with the entire cast dancing to the catchy song “Criminals” by Meghan Trainor. 

Again: this is not a good show, but gosh, I loved watching it. And I’m not alone! “The Perfect Couple” is burning up the Netflix charts as we speak. The site FlixPatrol, which provides VOD charts and streaming ratings worldwide, has “The Perfect Couple” as the number 1 TV show on Netflix as we speak. My own dogged research, which involved me opening the Netflix app and scrolling down to the top 10 TV shows column, confirms this. 

In “The Perfect Couple,” Amelia (Eve Hewson) is about to marry Benji (Billy Howle). The wedding is taking place at the gorgeous Nantucket beach estate owned by Benji’s parents: his mother, a famous writer played by Nicole Kidman, and his father, a really rich guy who likes to get high, played by Liev Schreiber. Also attending the wedding: Benji’s jerk older brother Thomas (Jack Reynor), Thomas’ pregnant wife Abby (Dakota Fanning), Amelia’s best friend Merritt (Meghann Fahy), Benji’s best friend Shooter (Ishaan Khatter), Benji’s younger brother Will (Sam Nivola), and boozy family friend Isabel (Isabelle Adjani). 

The night before the wedding, someone turns up dead. While at first it looks like an accident, the cops — out-of-town detective Nikki (Donna Lynne Champlin) and local lawman Dan (Michael Beach) — quickly suspect foul play. As the mystery unfolds, the dirty little secrets of practically every character come to light. It’s all presented in an unapologetically over-the-top fashion, helmed by “Bird Box” filmmaker Susanne Bier. 

While I enjoyed all the trashy, pulpy stuff that happens in the show itself, I have to say my favorite part of the show has to be the opening credits, where everyone dances. It’s very, very silly to watch, and that’s part of the fun. “It puts the show in a very definite space of, ‘This is a slightly heightened reality and as an audience, you can allow yourself to have fun and enjoy it,'” said director Susanne Bier. “There was something very joyful about having everybody doing it.” What I particularly love about the dance number is that you can really tell that some of the cast members (I won’t name names, but you can see for yourself) clearly do not like doing this, but they’re going along with it anyway. That’s the spirit.