Have a wonderful weekend. |
This weekend I have … a half-hour, and I want a comedy |
 | | Sultan Salahuddin, left, and Kareme Young in a scene from "South Side."Comedy Central |
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This comedy about a repo company on the South Side of Chicago aired on Comedy Central in 2019 and is now finally streaming. Sultan Salahuddin and Kareme Young star as Simon and K, recent junior college grads who work for Rent-T-Own and amass side hustles. "South Side" is fully hatched right from the pilot: Its characters have funny and original individual voices, its world makes sense, and it crams in more jokes per scene than some shows manage in an entire episode. If you want a comedy that moves easily between farce, one-liners and silly whimsy, or if you just have strong feelings about Harold's mild sauce, watch this. |
… a half-hour, and I want a British comedy |
 | | Lauren Socha, foreground, and Ellie White in a scene from "The Other One."Acorn TV |
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When to watch: Now, on Acorn |
If you already watched the odd-couple brother comedy "Back" on Sundance Now, try this import that feels like the sister version. Cat and Cathy (Lauren Socha and Ellie White) have nothing in common — except their father, whose recent death revealed to Cathy and her mother that he had a secret other family. And also that he'd given his two daughters the same name. A lot of class-conflict shows have a mean streak, but "The Other One" has a bright and fizzy ease and a story that zips along, and the seven episodes bounce by in a flash. |
… a half-hour, and I'm in the homestretch |
 | | Julia Collin Davison in a scene from "America's Test Kitchen."America's Test Kitchen |
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When to watch: Now, on the show's website or smart TV app. |
The current season of "America's Test Kitchen" was filmed during the pandemic, with the various hosts cooking in their own home kitchens — fun for the real-estate voyeur and home chef alike. These episodes look and feel so similar to the regular version that unless you're the one person who specifically craves the show's banter, you may not even notice the change. The series models the kind of gentle positivity we can all use a dose of right now as we emerge from our year of isolation like a newly healed limb, all withered and sensitive from being inside a cast. |
Your newly available movies |
 | | Rachel Sennott in "Shiva Baby."Maria Rusche/Shiva Baby |
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The actress Melissa McCarthy and her husband, the director Ben Falcone, have made five comedies together; our critic notes their consistency in her review of their latest collaboration, "Thunder Force," but she doesn't admire it. The daring Jewish indie "Shiva Baby" may be a better source for laughs this weekend. |
Some independent films are available via "virtual cinemas," which share the rental fees between distributors and theaters. Unless otherwise noted, other titles can generally be rented on the usual platforms, including Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube. SCOTT TOBIAS |
At heart a movie about one man's self-destructive obsession (Poole was forced to resign two weeks shy of his pension), "City of Lies" has an underlying, unexpected poignancy. The look is grimy and the atmosphere is grim; but what could have been a moody character study or a taut conspiracy thriller is instead a dreary procedural, a misbegotten mush of flashbacks, voice-overs and dead ends. — Jeannette Catsoulis (Read the full review here.) |
By the final act, "The Power" reveals a double meaning with its title, with [the director Corinna Faith] introducing a feminist-bent social commentary — it refers not just to electrical power but the manipulative kind. Unfortunately, that message and the previous happenings feel so disjointed that the film stumbles in delivering a cohesive vision. — Kristen Yoonsoo Kim (Read the full review here.) |
'Shiva Baby' (A Critic's Pick) |
It's rare for a film to simultaneously balance such wildly divergent tones, to interweave big laughs with gut-wrenching discomfort, but [the director Emma Seligman] pulls it off. — Jason Bailey (Read the full review here.) |
The latest in a string of dismal comic collaborations between Melissa McCarthy and her husband, Ben Falcone, does nothing to improve upon its predecessors. It does, though, underscore how cemented in shtick McCarthy's comic characters have become, and how much better this gifted actress deserves. — Jeannette Catsoulis (Read the full review here.) |
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