‘Wellmania’ Review: A Comedy That Shows That It Is Hard to Care for Annoying People

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Comedy is one of the ultimate art forms. It has the ability to transform moments, to transform people, and overall, the power to make a place better. However, comedy is also one of the most subjective art forms in existence. Not everyone will find something as funny, even when other people are laughing. This was my experience with Wellmania, a new Netflix comedy series that is arriving on the streaming service this week. This is supposed to be a comedy, this is supposed to make me laugh, but I’m not laughing.

Wellmania is a Netflix comedy series created by Benjamin Law and Brigid Delaney. The series is based on Delaney’s own novel titled “Wellmania: Misadventures in the Search for Wellness” The series stars Celeste Barber, JJ Fong, Genevieve Mooy, Lachlan Buchanan, Remy Hii, and Simone Kessell. The series tells the story of Liv, a walking disaster and food writer, who suddenly sees herself in a bad luck streak that leaves her stuck in her native Australia. Liv must become healthier to pass the medical exam to regain her green card.

The premise for Wellmania is quite fun. Going around and doing commentary on the different aspects of the wellness industry seems like it could be a great source of material. The wellness industry takes itself too seriously and demands to be taken that way, and so, the jokes mostly write themselves. The potential to create great comedy is here, in every corner. However, creating a TV show requires more than just a fun premise. You need a story, a plot, an arc, and, most importantly, characters.

It is in this last very important subject that Wellmania fails to create something that could grab me. Characters are essential storytelling devices because they are the ones who take on the journey. Without them, the journey can be aimless, and things might start feeling quite pointless very quickly. A good character that can headline the story can be the most critical element in your story. Even when the plot can feel scattered and the story slow-paced, the audience can still be interested in your character’s fate.

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I couldn’t care any less about Liv’s character throughout the show. She is set up on this journey of redemption, but it is hard to care about annoying people. I’m not very familiar with Celeste Barber’s career as a comedian. She seems to be very successful and has a lot of experience. The fact that she is the lead in this show tells you that her brand of comedy has been successful, and she has been deemed the right person to become the focus of this entire show. This is something I don’t understand.

I don’t find Liv to be funny or her brand of obnoxiousness charming at all. This character is the kind of person I would stay away from immediately. The strange thing is that most characters in the show feel the same as I. Liv is not well-loved because she hasn’t earned it, and throughout the show, her attitude is more annoying than anything else. When bad things happen to her or she clearly fails at something, I couldn’t feel but honestly hope she would realize how awful she is and how the show should just end.

It is very strange because the show takes its time to tell you that Liv is very good at what she does, which is being a food writer. When the show has the chance to show it on screen, it doesn’t particularly impress. At every opportunity, Liv proves to be annoying, selfish, rude, and great at many more awful qualifications. Her best friend, Amy, seems trapped in a toxic relationship with Liv, making you feel sad for poor Amy. Maybe Liv was never intended to be funny, but the problem remains. Why should I care about this person?

Outside of Celeste playing Liv, JJ Fong as Amy seems a much more interesting character to follow, but she is, of course, at the mercy of Liv, and never gets the chance to explore herself fully. The rest of the cast does a very good job, but Genevieve Molly truly takes it out of the park. The actress manages to be funny and endearing, and she shines in her own plotline, which also deals with health issues. It is here that the show feels at its most earnest. It is here the type of show I would have loved to watch as a whole, and not just like a tiny corner.

In terms of visuals, the show feels very much like many other Australian productions. The show really sells the Australian urban and natural landscapes as fine places to live. Of course, this vision of the country is perfectly controlled, but it feels great to see any place being shown in such a good light. Don’t expect to see grand set pieces, visual effects, or fantastic cinematography. This is a very cheap show, but this is exactly the type of production needed to carry this story. Simple and to the point.

As the season progresses, things start becoming a bit more serious, that is for sure. It might not be by much, but with the arcs concluding, it really feels like a waste that such a message was focused on the journey of such an annoying character. We consider many things when watching a TV show: availability, time, length, etc. Thankfully, Wellmania is an easy watch, and people can binge in one session if they find it interesting enough.

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Wellmania is not the best comedy of the year, but it could have been. This is the crux of the show. You can see the potential for something that is not only funny but also tell a very important story about this industry that seems to be one of the most misguided and less explored industries in modern society. Maybe we will get a show like that in the future, and it will be everything Wellmania should have. As it is, it makes for a simple watch to pass the time, that is, if you can stand its obnoxious main character.

SCORE: 6/10

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