Is Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair worth your time on Hulu? Find out in our Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair review!
Legacy sequels and revivals have been a mixed bag to be sure. Having now watched all of Malcom in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair, it seems we may have a new gold standard as to how it can be done.
The synopsis for the four-episode series sums it up perfectly, “After shielding himself and his daughter from his family for over a decade, Malcolm is dragged back into their orbit when Hal and Lois demand his presence at their 40th anniversary party.”
That really is all you need to know when it comes to the story of the four episodes, and it would be unfair to tell you much more than that as all that would end up happening is ruining a lot of jokes.
Hal (Bryan Cranston) and Lois (Jane Kaczmarek) really share as much of the spotlight as Malcolm (Frankie Muniz) this time around. The rest of the family all get their moments, but the three of them are really the main focus of the four episodes and the series becomes not just a comedy, but a study in family dynamics in a far more serious manner than the original series ever did.
So often, the humor in revivals feels like someone is simply trying to see if they can replace the original spark with how many jokes they can deliver per minute. (We’re looking at you Arrested Development.) The comedy moments in Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair feel completely in line with the style of the original series and never feel over done. Malcolm is still frantic. Hal is still a lovable goof with a heart of gold. And Lois still loves her family intensely, even if she doesn’t always know how to properly convey it.
And that’s another area the revival excels in: It didn’t try to update itself. This feels completely in line with what we knew from the original series. It’s still uncomfortable, sometimes dark, and other times completely tasteless, and that’s why it’s enjoyable. It never tries to be something it wasn’t already.
If you were a fan of the original series, you will, without question, enjoy this revival. It never feels cheap or desperate. It simply feels like the series got another season of Malcolm in the Middle, and that makes it the most perfect revival we’ve seen. Even if you never watched the original series, there is still a lot here to enjoy, and it feels as though you won’t have much trouble keeping up.
Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair will premiere on April 10 on Hulu.
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars
Hulu provided The Nerdy with all four episodes of Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair for the purposes of this review. We watched all four episodes to the conclusion before beginning this review.
