DAFT AND DERIVATIVE

Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber lead an unhappy family in Nantucket-set 'The Perfect Couple'. What may been biting satire is paint-by-numbers Netflix pulp, writes Nick Hilton

- Nick Hilton

Who are the perfect couple? Could it be the domineering matriarch and her philandering husband? The lovestruck groom and his indifferent bride-to-be? The pregnant social climber and her loudmouth, destructive partner? The irony of Netflix's new six-part drama, The Perfect Couple, is that, for all the beachfront properties, the designer dresses, and wedding cakes that could feed a small army, perfection is nowhere to be found.

Greer (Nicole Kidman) and Tag (Liev Schreiber) Winbury are the toast of Nantucket. She’s a successful crime author; he’s her affable, toke-toting husband. Their middle son Benji (Billy Howle) is marrying a beautiful but truculent outsider, Amelia (Eve Hewson), which brings the whole family, and assorted hangers-on, to the island. Among that coterie is Amelia’s maid of honour Merritt (Meghann Fahy) and mysterious family friend Isabel (Isabelle Adjani). But the wedding of the year hits the rocks when a body – one of the party – washes up on the beach. And there’s nothing like a corpse for, firstly, ruining your big day, and, secondly, exposing old secrets.