YOU’RE THE WORST

**1/2 (out of ****)

A commonly used sentence by people trying to find ways to bitch about a movie or TV show is “I didn’t feel like I had anyone to root for.” Who gives a fat flying shit? What you root for is totally irrelevant to both me and the filmmakers of whatever you’re describing. What the person probably means to say is that no one in the film is compelling, which is made even more obvious by the fact that there is no one to root for. I am not rooting for anyone in the movie Sexy Beast, but the characters COMPEL me to want to watch and learn more. I am rooting, however, for the Cleveland Indians to win in Major League 2, but that doesn’t change the fact that the movie isn’t very good. The next time someone tells me that they didn’t have anyone to root for, I’m going to shrug my shoulders, and then ask them what they thought of whatever we’re talking about, because I still have no idea. Either that, or my usual reaction to things, which is to scream at the top of my lungs and pull out clumps of my hair.

There is no one to root for in You’re the Worst. It’s on purpose. It’s the story of two awful people who try to give a relationship with each other a go. There are times where their awfulness rises and falls, usually inversely proportionate to each other, but for the most part, they are shitty shits. They are both hard to root for individually, much less root for them to live happily ever after. So, has FX doomed themselves? Why would they purposefully make a show with no one to root for, if it’s guaranteed to be bad?

FX hasn’t doomed themselves by giving us two unlikeable characters. They have doomed themselves by making these unlikeable characters boring. It’s a premise that feels like it could be great, until you really think about carrying it out. Two horrible people trying to balance their horribleness together sounds like it could be interesting and funny. But without the deftest of hands, the show would (and does) either constantly reinforce to its audience how terrible these people are, or go too far the other way and make large sweeping attempts to redeem them. The show would have to carve out a little wiggle room directly in between those mindsets, and that’s a lot to ask for. It’s the same problem Don’t Trust the B had with their B. We get it. They’re awful.
The “Next time on…” after the pilot episode actually gave me the biggest glimmer of hope. It shows the couple at the movies, arguing with another couple who told them to shutup. If the show was never more than throwing these two assholes into rom-com tropes, then it might be worthwhile for the show to stick around. It’ll never grow into greatness, but maybe it doesn’t care. Unfortunately, it will need to figure out a way to put a much funnier spin on everything than it has so far.

– Ryan Haley