Rebel Wilson seems destined to become a major star. The Bridesmaids and Pitch Perfect scene-stealer is incredibly funny and talented, and happy to throw herself headfirst into things like her MTV Movie Awards hosting gig earlier this year. And in Super Fun Night, which premieres tonight on ABC, the Australian actress gets her first starring U.S. gig in a show she created herself. Unfortunately, it’s not going to be the thing that makes her a star.
The Conan O’Brien-produced series has changed significantly in the last couple of years, bouncing between networks and re-casting pretty much everyone but Wilson. After all that, ABC decided not to air the pilot they made, instead kicking off the season with the second episode of the series. That means that the show’s setup, about three homebody friends who decide they’ll start having adventures on their Friday nights from now on, is glossed over in what should have been a premise-establishing premiere.
Wilson’s Kimmie Boubier is a recently promoted lawyer with a crush on her colleague Richard (Kevin Bishop) and a romantic rival in the form of the beautiful but batshit Kendall (Kate Jenkinson). Her roommates and best friends, Helen-Alice (Liza Lapira) and Marika (Lauren Ash) decide that that their outing this week needs to be singing at piano bar, despite neither of them appearing interested in singing or music at all. It’s really just a way to force Kimmie to conquer the paralyzing stage fright she’s suffered since childhood, and a convenient method to get the always-up-for-singing Wilson on stage with a mic.
This music video promo is more fun than the actual show.
There’s really not much more too it in than that; it’s incredibly mediocre. Super Fun Night isn’t terrible, though the jokes aren’t great and the cast doesn’t quite click. Wilson makes it somewhat watchable (the few moments she’s not on screen are tedious) but it feels like exactly what it is – a show that’s been re-worked, over-analyzed, and pieced together again. And despite her credit as creator, the series does Wilson a real disservice, playing down her own natural charms in favor of hammy, sitcom-tastique clumsiness. Someday, probably, Wilson will find her star vehicle. But not tonight.
None of the footage in this promo will be in the episode that actually airs tonight.Â