Trying to find great new Hulu shows to make the most of your $6.99 per month? Well, there's a new show that just hit the service today that's doing well enough with the Rotten Tomatoes-polled critics to make you consider hitting 'play.'
That series is Life & Beth, which stars Amy Schumer (Trainwreck, Inside Any Schumer), and it looks like the next proper step forward in Schumer's career. A dramatic comedy, Life & Beth is available to binge-watch right now on Hulu, as all 10 half-hour-ish episodes debuted today (March 18).
Life & Beth, currently holding a 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes, isn't Hulu's only well-received recent release. The Dropout, where Amanda Seyfried stars as Theranos founder and scammer extraordinaire Elizabeth Holmes, debuted earlier this month and wraps up in April. The Dropout has a slightly lower RT score of 89%, but that score is still a little more valuable, because it has the Certified Fresh tag because it has more than 20 reviews. Life & Beth only has 18 reviews, so it doesn't have that seal of mass-approval yet.
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Check out the trailer below to see how Schumer's brand of comedy has evolved to be a bit more introspective and a little less sensational. Oh, and check out the very unexpected actor playing her love interest:
Yes, if a coming-of-age comedy where the titular Beth (Schumer) deals with growing up, health concerns and an annoying boyfriend (who seems even worse than 30 Rock's Dennis Duffy) she needs to dump wasn't enough? Her character Beth, a wine distributor, is also falling for a farmer John (that's literally his name) played by Michael Cera.
Beth meets John when she returns to her home town of Long Island after her life is irrevocably changed by a death in the family. That incident doesn't seem to keep her down and out for two long, as she and John have seemingly very-solid banter, and the plot of bringing a city girl to the country-area seems like it will provide a lot for Schumer to harvest.
Analysis: Why the critics say you should watch Life & Beth
Schumer's last big project was the Judd Apatow-directed Trainwreck, which seemed heavy on the slapstick and tried to stick the landing on emotions with life changes at its very end. While Schumer wrote Trainwreck, she has both directing and executive producer credits on Life & Beth.
Life & Beth looks like an elevation Schumer's storytelling by mixing her sense of humor with a more down to earth pacing. But don't just take my word for it, let's see what those RT-sourced critics have to say. Kimberly Potts at TheWrap put it simply, stating that Life & Beth will "be one of your favorite binge watches of the year." Which would make the series another feather in the cap of Hulu, one of our picks for the best streaming services.
Veteran critic Alan Sepinwall wrote, in his review at Rolling Stone, that "Life & Beth is an interesting and ultimately sweet and likable tale, and a solid soft-relaunch of sorts for Schumer herself." This is very much the vibe I've been getting from the show.
Similarly, Matthew Gilbert of the Boston Globe wrote that Schumer "grows even further as an actress, becoming a full and dramatically viable character while still finding a place for her comedic themes. She delivers her most faceted and raw performance yet."
And since there is one negative review listed, let's note that Brian Lowry at CNN wrote that Life & Beth is "a flawed trip down memory lane" and that "the stark rawness of the material doesn't translate into a particularly distinctive series."
