Pretty Smart

 

Pretty Smart is a Netflix original sitcom starring Emily Osment and Gregg Sulkin. The show follows Emily Osment's character Chelsea who is forced to move to California to live with her stereotypical dumb blonde sister Claire and her friends. Chelsea is trying to write a book and get over a breakup. She starts to fall for Gregg Sulkin’s character, Grant, who likes her sister Claire. This is not a good show. However, if there is a season 2 I will most likely still watch it because I think it is so stupid that it works. I’m almost certain I lost brain cells watching this show but it is such a happy show. It is just fun and stupid and I think that is the reason why I enjoyed it.  I like that you could watch it completely out of order and still understand what is happening.



I went into it knowing it would be super corny, which it was. I only started watching when I heard Emily Osment and Greg Sullkin were in it because I was a huge Disney Channel kid growing up. Hannah Montana and Wizards of Waverly Place were two of my favourites so I liked seeing them play opposite of each other in this show. I don’t love the characters they play but it reminded me of the Disney channel and I liked watching them again. 

The acting in this is not very good which surprised me given a lot of them have a background or experience in sitcoms. Sitcoms are filmed very differently than films and television in general. Every Disney Channel show is shot like a sitcom and I think that is why Emily Osment and Gregg Sulkin’s performance in this is better than the others because they grew up on sitcoms. A lot of the actors in this show have previously been in other Netflix shows, which goes to show how Netflix has created a system of connections. 



The characters in this show are all based on stereotypes. It is really just every possible Los Angeles stereotype and the characters have little to no depth at all. There is no connection between these characters. The show tries too hard to be relatable and uses a lot of dialogue that people in the real world just don’t use. I can’t tell if it is trying to attract people who act like this, or if it is trying to make fun of people who act like this.




To wrap this up, sometimes you need a show that brings you out of a tough time, something just fun and not so serious. I watched this show when I just needed a laugh. Is it a great show? Not at all. But it was quirky and fun and didn’t take itself seriously. I really like sitcoms, it is kind of a break from more serious topics, critically acclaimed, look at the cinematography and this shot kind of stuff. When you are studying and love to watch good films and tv series sometimes you miss out on movies and tv that are just supposed to be fun. This show is not brilliant, but it was made to be fun and I think that counts for something.