Talk about a quick turnaround.
We often hear about streaming series and movies that spend years, or even decades, in Development Purgatory. But just 22 months after Rufi Thorpe’s novel “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” was published, Apple TV has released a star-studded, wickedly funny, sex-forward adaptation, and it’s one of the most engaging and entertaining series of the year to date.
As the title character, Elle Fanning carries the series, pulling off a challenging and complex role with grace, humor, and bona fide character work. Created by the prolific David E. Kelley, whose résumé ranges from “L.A. Law” and “Ally McBeal” to “Nine Perfect Strangers” and the TV adaptation of “Presumed Innocent,” this series is filled with quirky, colorful characters, yet it always feels grounded. Even as the show confronts serious, timely issues about sex work, identity, addiction, faith, and parental responsibilities, there’s a comfort-viewing element to each episode; we know things are going to turn out all right, or at least not fully disastrous. We believe these people exist in our world. They’re flawed and sometimes desperate, and life keeps throwing curveballs at them. We can only hope they find a way to prevail, or at least survive until the next sunrise.
The clever and creative opening title sets the tone for the show. It’s an animated, pinball-themed sequence, with a green alien (a Margo avatar, if you will) perched atop a silver ball and navigating a candy-colored maze, all set to Robyn’s “Blow My Mind.” Yep, this is gonna be a trip. Our story is primarily set in the working-class world of the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area, where the daily skies are sunny, which is more than we can say for the lives of the main characters. Their challenges invariably revolve around money. Fanning’s Margo, who narrates her own story, is a promising writing student at Fullerton College whose life hits a major crossroads when she has an affair with her weaselly, married literature professor Mark (Michael Angarano), and becomes pregnant.
Margo decides to keep the baby, whom she will name Bodhi, because California and spirituality, and maybe “Point Break,” who can say. But she’ll have to raise him on her own, as scuzzball Mark refuses to provide any kind of support. Margo’s mother, Shyanne—played by the luminous Michelle Pfeiffer, who has been married to show creator Kelley for 32 years—wants to be there for her daughter, but she’s struggling with it. Shyanne laments that Margo is repeating her own path: Giving birth to a child with an absentee father, putting her dreams on hold because she’ll need to raise the child on her own, work full-time, figure out a child-care plan, and the wheels on the bus go round and round and round. (What a treat it is to see Pfeiffer so deftly playing two very different mothers/grandmothers in quick succession, with “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” coming on the heels of Taylor Sheridan’s “The Madison.”)
After Margo loses her job at a cheesy family theme restaurant and has no luck finding work, she makes a choice: she’s going to become an OnlyFans content creator. It starts with some mild nudity and Margo telling her fans which Pokémon character their appendage resembles. But Margo really puts her writing talents and imagination to profitable use when she creates “HungryGhost,” an alien character with green skin.
With the help of her cosplaying roommate Susie (a scene-stealing Thaddea Graham) and two fellow OnlyFans creators named KC (Rico Nasty) and Rose (Lindsey Normington), Margo/HungryGhost starts raking in some legitimate coin. This makes for some creative, B-movie type visuals, as when the squad makes a short film with Margo as a 40-foot-tall HungyGhost who peers into a theater whose marquee is advertising “WORLD PREMIERE—HUNGRY GHOST” and then appears on the theater’s screen, telling the patrons, “Feed me memes and tinfoil and old-timey film strips. Give me your boredom, your sadness, your anxiety. I will eat it all.” You go, Ghost Girl.
Nick Offerman is a deadpan force as Margo’s estranged father, Jinx, a former pro wrestler who is just out of rehab and shows up at Margo’s door hoping to make up for lost time. We see Jinx’s tender side as he instantly takes to Bodhi and offers to help out any way he can—but he’s also a broken man, and we hold our breath hoping he doesn’t relapse. Pfeiffer’s Shyanne is deeply distrustful of Jinx, who was married when they had their affair. Meanwhile, Shyanne is doing a kind of cosplay of her own in her relationship with Greg Kinnear’s Kenny, who is the president and the youth ministry director of a local church. As far as Kenny knows, Shyanne doesn’t drink (not true), and she’s really into the whole God thing (possibly not true). In fact, Kenny has taken the important step of asking Shyanne to join the choir. (“Kenny wants me to be among the Episcopalians,” Shyanne tells her daughter.)
The star parade continues with appearances by a couple of Oscar winners. Nicole Kidman plays a former pro wrestler-turned-attorney who is probably the most well-adjusted among the characters. Marcia Gay Harden sinks her teeth into the role of Mark’s ruthless mother, who looks and sounds like a SoCal Cruella de Vil. Elle Fanning leads the charge as the funny, smart, warmhearted title character. At its center, this is the story of a woman who takes ownership of her body and her life even as she faces harsh criticism, sometimes from instantly judgmental peers. “Margo’s Got Money Trouble” has clear affection for its main characters… as do we.
All eight episodes were screened for review. Premieres April 15th on Apple TV.
