It takes some time to work out exactly who Jamie (Andrew Rannells) and Diane (Allison Janney), the two lost and lonely leads of HBO’s Miss You, Love You, are to each other. She might be his mother, but then she asks his name when he enters her home. He could be some sort of consultant, except he seems no more confident than she does when she asks how “this” is supposed to work.
As it turns out, it’s not just us: Diane and Jamie don’t really know who they are to each other, either. They are strangers, linked socially by a person who is not present and situationally by another who has passed. It’s a clever conceit, using the very nebulousness of their dynamic as a way to explore their messy, even ugly feelings surrounding the people who really matter most to them. But an overly mannered affect undermines the rawness of the emotions, keeping them from landing with the impact they ought.
Miss You, Love You
The Bottom Line
Raw emotions, overcooked execution.
