Leonard & Hungry Paul Review: A Gentle Comedy With Narration from Julia Roberts Provides an Ideal Remedy to Modern Life

In a quiet area of the city, an individual can be found in his driveway, sporting a vest and expressing his thoughts. “I notice myself getting quieter. More invisible,” states Leonard, looking into the darkness. “Events have unfolded and now I believe without a change, my life will proceed in this minor, harmless existence.” His friend Paul, Leonard’s best and only friend, considers these words. “That's perfectly fine,” he replies, his dressing gown moving gently. “Preferable to attempting to leave an impact and causing harm instead.”

For anyone tired by the noise and fast pace of current streaming landscape, this series comes similar to a warm cover and a comforting beverage of blackcurrant juice.

Like its gentle leads, this comedy – a six-part show created by the writing duo, based on the novelist’s subtle 2019 novel – casts a critical eye on contemporary society; peering skeptically through its spectacles on everything related to disturbances, quick actions or – goodness forbid – an abundance of ambition. The series on the contrary, an ode to introversion; a subtle homage of those content to pootle around out of the spotlight. However. The character (a further distinctly original performance from the star) is uneasy. He senses a creeping “desire to unlock the openings of my life … just a bit.” The recent death of his mother has pulled the carpet from under his slippers and the 32-year-old, a ghost writer, now finds himself doubting the choices that directed him to his current situation (alone; defensively moustached; working on several educational volumes for a man who concludes emails using the words “goodbye for now”).

And so Leonard starts himself on a quest for personal satisfaction, with the slightly bolder Hungry Paul (Laurie Kynaston) functioning as his trusted friend, guide and partner during their regular game night which acts as debate (“Does the pool feel warm from kids relieving themselves, or do children urinate as it's heated?”) and safe space.

(How did Paul get his nickname? The reason is unknown. The beginning of the moniker seems forgotten in mystery. It could be that Paul once ate some food very fast, or reacted to a socially fraught incident by nervously peeling some food items using his teeth).

Entering Leonard's quiet life cartwheels a new colleague (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell), a recent lively colleague who cheerily offers to get rid of his terrible supervisor (the actor) during the office fire drill. That whooshing sound audible represents Leonard's calm life experiencing a revolution.

In other scenes during the opening installment of the comedy focused less on story and centered around what a modern audience could describe as “mood”, we meet the older generation (the brilliant the actor), a worn-out individual who secretly watches, tapes and rewatches trivia competitions to amaze his loving spouse with his general knowledge.

Leading us amidst this minor-key niceness is a narrator that is unmistakably – and actually is – Julia Roberts. Yes, the star. In case you're considering, “undoubtedly the inclusion of a major Hollywood star clashes with the show's modest approach and starts off as just an interruption?” that's accurate. Still, Roberts acquits herself well, and phrases like “The issue with Leonard is his absence of a look of sudden insight” help ensure that first reservations yield if not full admiration, then at minimum tolerance.

No more criticism for now. Leonard and Hungry Paul’s heart is in the right place: which is “resting on a bench alongside similar shows, showing the duck it loves.” The program that ambles along in comfortable attire, occasionally looking up into space, sometimes downward toward the ground, quietly confident that nothing is on Earth as heartening as spending time with good friends.

Open the doors and windows in your existence, just a bit, and let it in.