Insaniac_9
Joined Sep 2012
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Ratings34
Insaniac_9's rating
Reviews15
Insaniac_9's rating
Sirens wants to be many things-biting social satire, psychological drama, family mystery-but ends up spread too thin across its ambitions. What starts with an intriguing setup quickly descends into a muddled mess of clashing tones and underdeveloped themes.
The series' biggest problem is its inability to decide what it wants to be. It flirts with dark comedy but never lands a truly sharp punch; it gestures toward psychological thriller territory but backs away before anything genuinely unsettling happens. The writing often feels like a stage play trying too hard to be a TV show, and for good reason: it's based on Molly Smith Metzler's 2011 play Elemeno Pea, and much of its theatrical DNA remains intact in a way that doesn't translate well to the screen.
Julianne Moore delivers a typically committed performance as Michaela Kell, but the character is too cartoonishly manipulative to take seriously. Meghann Fahy and Milly Alcock try their best with material that rarely allows their characters to feel like real sisters. Instead, Devon and Simone fall into cliché roles-the overprotective cynic and the naive follower-and the show never does the hard work of giving them believable emotional depth.
The setting, a hyper-luxurious beach estate, is clearly meant to evoke the isolating world of the ultra-wealthy, but the show leans so hard into stylization and symbolism (catchphrases like "hey hey," Nantucket necklaces, yacht club rituals) that it feels more like an Instagram parody of wealth than a meaningful critique.
Pacing is also an issue. Despite only being five episodes, Sirens drags, particularly in its middle stretch. Scenes linger too long without payoff, conversations go in circles, and the series' supposed central mystery-whether Simone is in danger or merely being misunderstood-never builds much tension.
Visually, the show is polished, and the production design is gorgeous, but those surface-level strengths can't cover for a story that lacks clarity, urgency, or real insight.
In the end, Sirens feels like an expensive vanity project, one that mistakes aesthetic confidence for narrative substance. For all its glossy ambition, it leaves you with little more than the sense that it could have been something more if it had trusted its characters instead of its setting.
The series' biggest problem is its inability to decide what it wants to be. It flirts with dark comedy but never lands a truly sharp punch; it gestures toward psychological thriller territory but backs away before anything genuinely unsettling happens. The writing often feels like a stage play trying too hard to be a TV show, and for good reason: it's based on Molly Smith Metzler's 2011 play Elemeno Pea, and much of its theatrical DNA remains intact in a way that doesn't translate well to the screen.
Julianne Moore delivers a typically committed performance as Michaela Kell, but the character is too cartoonishly manipulative to take seriously. Meghann Fahy and Milly Alcock try their best with material that rarely allows their characters to feel like real sisters. Instead, Devon and Simone fall into cliché roles-the overprotective cynic and the naive follower-and the show never does the hard work of giving them believable emotional depth.
The setting, a hyper-luxurious beach estate, is clearly meant to evoke the isolating world of the ultra-wealthy, but the show leans so hard into stylization and symbolism (catchphrases like "hey hey," Nantucket necklaces, yacht club rituals) that it feels more like an Instagram parody of wealth than a meaningful critique.
Pacing is also an issue. Despite only being five episodes, Sirens drags, particularly in its middle stretch. Scenes linger too long without payoff, conversations go in circles, and the series' supposed central mystery-whether Simone is in danger or merely being misunderstood-never builds much tension.
Visually, the show is polished, and the production design is gorgeous, but those surface-level strengths can't cover for a story that lacks clarity, urgency, or real insight.
In the end, Sirens feels like an expensive vanity project, one that mistakes aesthetic confidence for narrative substance. For all its glossy ambition, it leaves you with little more than the sense that it could have been something more if it had trusted its characters instead of its setting.
If you enjoy crappy people getting together, partying, snorting half of New York and Vegas and general d0uchebagitude - than this movie is for you.
Apparently, $18mil was spent campaigning to the Academy to win an Oscar or two. (Actually, this abomination walked away with 5 of 'em.....so it looks like money well spent) I'm guessing that money went directly into the bank accounts of ppl who didn't actually watch the movie. (How else did Mikey Madison win over Demi Moore or Cynthia Erivo just by repeating "mf'er" 1,000 times?) One positive thing I have to say is the subtle performance of Yura Borisov. Even when scenes were silly (I *think* they were supposed to be funny?), he held his own as a quiet guy who gets stuff done. Kudos to him!
Otherwise, this film is an absolute waste of 199 mins and an embarrassment to the Academy Awards.
Apparently, $18mil was spent campaigning to the Academy to win an Oscar or two. (Actually, this abomination walked away with 5 of 'em.....so it looks like money well spent) I'm guessing that money went directly into the bank accounts of ppl who didn't actually watch the movie. (How else did Mikey Madison win over Demi Moore or Cynthia Erivo just by repeating "mf'er" 1,000 times?) One positive thing I have to say is the subtle performance of Yura Borisov. Even when scenes were silly (I *think* they were supposed to be funny?), he held his own as a quiet guy who gets stuff done. Kudos to him!
Otherwise, this film is an absolute waste of 199 mins and an embarrassment to the Academy Awards.
