‘God’s Favorite Idiot’ Is a Low Point for Melissa McCarthy and Husband Ben Falcone: TV Review
variety.comDaniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticA partnership with Melissa McCarthy — one of the defining comic talents of the past 10-plus years — might seem like the sort of thing a streamer would want to spotlight and celebrate.
So it’s surprising that “God’s Favorite Idiot,” a new comedy series on Netflix, dropped without ever been having made available to critics in advance.Surprising, that is, to those without familiarity with the breadth of McCarthy’s oeuvre.
In addition to highs like “Bridesmaids,” “Spy,” and “Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” the performer has made an escalatingly disastrous series of movies directed by her husband Ben Falcone, including “The Boss,” “Life of the Party,” and “Superintelligence.” Falcone and McCarthy’s creative partnership makes a crystalline case for allowing someone from outside the family into the making of art; together, their work is slackly paced and meagerly plotted. “God’s Favorite Idiot,” created by Falcone (with both spouses credited as executive producers), is a low point, and, somehow, a shock.
Even after years worth of Falcone-led content, one still believes there are better ways McCarthy could be put to use onscreen, that she might find her way to collaborators who see her as an actor and not just a pratfall machine.
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