The Family Law

The Family Law tells the story of young Ben's family going through some family breakdowns, welcoming new members into the family and Ben's development into a young man. The story is told with great compassion and great heart.

The Family Law is well written and well performed. The comedy is interspersed in such a way that the emotion of each episode is enhanced and supported. The Law family casting was amazing and the interaction between the actors appears to be a real family, their performances are stellar. The casting director really did an amazing job finding the family. The ensemble cast are also exceptionally well chosen and their performances are also excellent. One of my favourite characters has to be Melissa performed by Bethany Whitmore. Her characterisation was outstanding and hilarious where required.

Finally the script writing was exceptional. A fun, enjoyable and touching story so well constructed. I particularly enjoyed the double entendres hidden in so many of the lines.

If you are looking for a show to enjoy with the family this is it. Just don't binge watch because you will be disappointed with how fast you get through it and will be left wanting more episodes.

Stumbled across this refreshing & hilarious show, and initially thought it might be a rip off of fresh off the boat. I ended up enjoying it thoroughly, and believe it is even better than fresh off the boat in many ways. This show felt more authentic, maybe because it is scripted from the real life Benjamin Law. (FOTB was based on a real person for only the first season). Loved the characters and dialogue!

Before I checked I could tell this was based on someone's real childhood. It's absurd in the most believable and endearing way.

I love this family. They are honest, vulnerable, loving and real.

I recommend this show wholeheartedly.

There was every reason to be optimistic about this series. The concept of a Chinese family in Australia, facing the same problems as any other family, could have demystified the cultural differences. The problems started with casting and acting standards. It is a two-edged sword: cast an Australian-born Chinese and you just get an Australian with an Asian face, thus lessening the effect of culture. Choose a Chinese-born actor and you get someone who is trying to act in their second (or third) language, unable to express the nuances of the words. The scripts were good, except for the embarrassing sexual references. There was a hint that Benjamin is "gay" but perhaps we will have to wait for another season to see if that line is followed. There were anomalies aplenty. Why, for example, would two women who are old friends speak to each other in English when both have difficulty with the language? Subtitles were used elsewhere; why not for that scene? Talking of subtitles, there is not much point having white printing on a white background. There were promising sub-plots but others reminded me of Alf Garnet / Archie Bunker and many other politically correct anti-racists shows. In summary, this show suffered from poor production standards.

I was not especially interested in watching this after seeing the ads. Not for any specific reason - it just didn't grab my attention. But I more-or-less stumbled across it one evening while channel-surfing, and just loved it right from the word go. The show is funny, well-acted and endearing - with slight reminiscences of Adrian Mole's diary from the 80s. Thanks to SBS and Ben Law - one of the best comedies I've seen in a while!