‘Uncoupled’ Review: Ex & The City
Uncoupled (★★★☆☆), it’s especially hard out here for a single gay man of a certain age.Whereas “a certain age” might, in more agreeable times, have meant truly middle-aged or at least gracefully senior, now, apparently, we’re all ancient after 40.So, Uncoupled‘s busy, fortysomething real estate broker Michael — unceremoniously dumped by his partner Colin, after 17 seemingly happy years together — has a steep learning curve to catch up with all the ins and outs of hooking up and hanging out now that he’s single again.Embodied in all his ripe ambition and sexuality by Neil Patrick Harris, Michael is caught completely off-guard by Colin (Tuc Watkins) packing up and leaving. But the show drops hints that he perhaps should have detected something was off — namely, the fact that Colin, uneasy about turning 50, was in no mood to celebrate the milestone.Created by uber-successful gay writer-producers Jeffrey Richman (Modern Family) and Darren Star (Sex & the City), Uncoupled has plenty to say about aging, gracefully or not, within the youth-obsessed gay culture.The series acknowledges, through Michael’s broker partner and bestie Suzanne (Tisha Campbell), that single women over 40 might still have it harder.In fact, Michael’s fabulously wealthy client, Claire (a delightful Marcia Gay Harden), also recently dumped, insists that women at any age are more ruthlessly judged by their appearance and other superficial aspects.As if accepting a challenge, Michael responds that we’ll just have to see about that.