Part of the brilliance behind the work of Christopher Miller and Phil Lord has been an ability to turn unfeasible stories into gold. No one thought that a movie about LEGOs, a TV show about a high school full of historical clones, or a comedic reimagining of 21 Jump Street would work, yet they all became hilarious examples that Lord and Miller are arguably the best comedic minds working in entertainment today. With The Afterparty, a series that the pair have developed for a decade, it quickly becomes clear that Lord and Miller's strength isn’t just making ridiculous concepts into exceptional gems, it’s in finding the exact right team to bring these ideas to life.
After a fifteen-year high school reunion, a group of former classmates goes to the home of Xavier (Dave Franco), their classes’ most successful student, who became a famous pop star and actor in such films as the Hungry Hungry Hippos movie (a project just weird enough that Lord and Miller could actually try to make it a reality). When someone murders Xavier, Detective Danner (Tiffany Haddish) rounds up the schoolmates in Xavier’s home and tries to find who killed the celebrity.
In the first episode, “Aniq,” Danner states that “we’re all stars of our own movie,” and that she wants to see every suspect’s “mind movie.” As Danner investigates this murder, we see how these people envision their “mind movies,” each of which takes on the style and feel of a different style or genre of film. Aniq (Sam Richardson) goes to the reunion to finally try and ask out Zoë (Zoë Chao), his former chemistry partner he had a crush on, so his story takes the form of a romantic comedy. Zoë’s ex-husband Brett (Ike Barinholtz) believes himself to be a badass, so his story has the style of an action film, albeit involving car chases while his daughter is in the backseat and competitions to see who can pee for longer.
What makes this plan work so beautifully is that The Afterparty finds the absolute perfect comedic actors to fill each role. Franco is great as a pop star douchebag, and Richardson is ideal as a rom-com lead, but this flawless casting goes completely down the line. The Afterparty makes the brilliant choice of casting Ben Schwartz as Yasper, who envisions his life as one big musical (and anyone familiar with Comedy Bang! Bang!’s “Solo Bolo” episodes knows Schwartz is an ingenious choice for this role). Or take Fleabag’s Jamie Demetrious, who is so quiet and awkward that no one even realizes they went to school with him. He’s so transparent to everyone, he’s the only star of an episode whose name doesn’t appear in the title, and somehow Demetrious can steal almost every scene, even if he’s just looming in the background. Yet The Afterparty is a series packed with scene-stealers, none of whom overwhelm the story and each of which fits perfectly into their place within the larger mystery.
This impeccable casting is what has made Lord and Miller’s films and TV shows work so well. Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill were an incredible team for the 21 Jump Street films, while Will Forte’s hilarious dimwit was an exemplary choice for The Last Man on Earth. But The Afterparty might be Lord and Miller’s masterpiece in terms of casting. This is a team full of greats, each playing to their fullest potential, and making an incredibly fun and addictive series together.
The Afterparty is also an example of just how much Lord and Miller can do extremely well. Miller, who directs all of this season’s episodes, has to explore all sorts of varying styles of filmmaking in order to make this concept work, be it the paranoid horror story of Ilana Glazer’s Chelsea or the more grounded depiction of Danner's humble origins as a beat cop. Not only does Miller have to tell one story through various viewpoints and tones, but The Afterparty also unravels itself in really charming ways, as small details that may have been overlooked in the first episode might blow up into some major element several episodes down the line.
There are a lot of moving pieces in The Afterparty and under the guidance of Miller, he makes it all look effortless. With its remarkably clever casting, its genre-jumping style, and hilarious comedy mixed with an exciting mystery, The Afterparty shows that nothing is too difficult for Lord and Miller to accomplish in what is already one of the best TV debuts of 2022.
Rating: A
The Afterparty debuts on January 28 on Apple TV+ with its first three episodes. New episodes will be released on Fridays.