The team behind this adult animation is unbelievably stellar – Jason Schwartzman, John Waters, Whoopi Goldberg, Amy Sedaris … Sadly, it’s so awful it’s hard to even express its direness
W
e need to talk about Kevin. We need to surround ourselves with soothing furnishings and sturdy stress toys and – deep breaths, everyone – discuss how and why Kevin has happened and what steps must be taken to stop Kevin, or anything like Kevin, from ever happening again.
But first, the unfortunate facts. Kevin is the title of a new adult animation from Prime Video and the name of the series’ protagonist; a self-doubting house cat who, after his owners’ breakup, opts to move into a chaotic pet rescue centre.
The show’s credentials do not in themselves provoke horror: the co-creation of comedian Joe Wengert and the previously unimpeachable Aubrey Plaza, its cast includes Jason Schwartzman as Kevin, Amy Sedaris as Napoleonic power-pug Brandi and John Waters (yes, that John Waters) as a louche, medallion-festooned Persian cat named Armando. Patti LuPone and Cary Elwes are in there somewhere too. And is that Whoopi Goldberg as Cupcake, a brassy alley cat with intimacy issues? Why, yes. It is. But oh, the script. The awful, awful script. So blunderingly crude is it, so sluggish its attempts at emotional depth, and so mean-spirited its approach to everything else, you may, like me, find your shoulders sagging and your soul slumping like a winded beanbag.
