Game Face
ABC2
Monday, 9.30pm
What happens when you smush Bridget Jones, Patsy from AB Fab and Miranda together into one character?
No, I don’t know either but that’s what seems to have happened with Game Face, which starts on ABC2 this coming Monday.
Like a British version of Amy Schumer – comedian Roisin Conaty stars as Marcella an aspiring actress who spiritedly crashers her way through life, assisted by a life-coach thanks to vouchers from her mother, a group of best friends and a very patient driving instructor.
We meet Roisin, who is working as a children’s entertainer and office temp, as she’s trying to bounce back from a huge break up from her boyfriend of 12 years.
Sure it’s been a year but that’s not long enough to move on is it? Well it is if you’re the ex who has now met and married an America.
Marcella is moving on, kind of. She’s on a mission to change her future for the better – finally learning to drive and pursuing her acting career.
It’s a show packed with indiosyncratic observations and wry humour about navigating your thirties when you’re not ready.
The problem with it, unfortunately, is that it’s more cringy (a scene when she tries to talk someone off a ledge is more than a little hard to watch) than comedy and the main character is yet to show any redeeming features but no doubt we’ll find out that she has a heart of gold as the show continues. That’s if anyone is still watching until episode six.
– Tania Phillips
