The new Apple TV + series, Palm Royale, has a visual style so sunny and candy-colored gaudy that it makes the recent Barbie movie look like David Lynch’s Eraserhead. The show captures the garish clothes, jewelry, and furniture of 1969 Palm Beach, Florida, but the combination of the cinematography from Todd McMullen & David Lanzenberg and Jon Carlos’ production design might cause cavities. 

Show-runner Abe Sylvia (who is behind the camera for three episodes) and his fellow directors Tate Taylor, Claire Scanlon, and Stephanie Laing have crafted a Palm Beach that exists as a facade. Behind the glamour of the rich socialites that line the poolside of their country club sipping fancy drinks and ogling the Latino pool boys, there is drama and tragedy and spiteful disdain. Just the ingredients for a comedy! 

Kristen Wiig is very good as “Maxine Simmons D’ellacourt”, an outsider from small town Tennessee who longs for validation in an upper crust society that has no use for her. As Maxine,the talented actress is funny and vibrant, but eventually (as she did in the wonderful film The Skeleton Twins) shows a deeper emotion that could be quite moving with the right material. Wiig’s entertaining performance finds a more steady rhythm than the entire series. 

The same can be said for Allison Janney, who nails it as “Evelyn Rollins”, the unofficial head of the snooty wives and widows who rule over the club and its members. Janney’s carefully constructed performance helps the audience find empathy regarding her character’s plight, even when Evelyn (ever bitchy and vindictive) makes it tough to care. With her talents always on display, the actress rises above even her most ridiculous moments, though it must have been quite a struggle.

Sadly, the treasure that is Laura Dern is saddled with a supporting role that (as written) doesn’t know what it wants to be. Her “Linda Shaw” is a feminist with secrets whose past intersects with Maxine’s rise to the middle, but the story fails at making her interesting beyond Dern’s casting. Linda seems to be cobbled together from 4 or 5 different characters, never finding a connection to the audience. It is sad to see an actress of Dern’s talent flailing around, looking for a pace to land. By series end, Linda morphs into something utterly preposterous, as the script all but fails her. Another fine actor is let down by the series, but Apple Tv + has put the kibosh on speaking intricately beyond the first two episodes. 

The series begins in the legendary summer of 1969 at Palm Beach’s most exclusive country club, the Palm Royale of the title. Sneaking over the club’s wall, a cash poor Maxine sits by the pool and scopes out her surroundings. Looking for an “in”, the obvious “sore thumb” is immediately snubbed by all, especially the club’s hierarchy (Janney, Julia Duffy, Leslie Bibb, and Claudia Ferri). The club’s matriarch, Norma (an offensively wasted Carol Burnett), lies comatose in an upstairs suite, as Maxine wears her clothes and pawns her jewelry for cash, thinking she will fool people into believing she actually belongs. How does Maxine know Norma? The old broad is the Aunt of her husband Douglas (Josh Lucas), a doofus airline pilot waiting for his aunt to croak and live the rest of his days on her millions. 

With more subplots than a ten-episode series can handle, the sitcom premise and abrupt tonal shifts sink what could have been a biting satire, given the strong (but strange) cast. Even Ricky Martin and Mindy Cohn show up in major roles. To be fair, Cohn is rather good, but Martin is as stiff as his cheek implants. Too bad, as his character plays a large role in almost every side story. 

Each character is drawn with too broad a brush. While such a tone could work if it can be kept going (broad comedy is quite the delight), the writers inject unexpected seriousness into the later episodes, giving the whole project an awkwardly labored feel. Some of the comedy works. Not a lick of the drama carries any impact. By the time a certain character bonds with a whale (do not ask), the series shoots into the stratosphere of ridiculousness. That the moment is designed to be “touching” should see most viewers running from their televisions. Throw in President Nixon, draft dodgers, the F.B.I., a Latino mobster, fake passports, a foreign prince, cottage cheese, a feminist bookstore where gay men find sex partners in a book by James Baldwin, and yet another pregnancy scene played for extreme humor, the film smashes to the ground like a spilled bucket of crushed ice. 

With the talent involved, Palm Royale could have been a contender; something fresh and fun and alive. Instead, the series becomes increasingly stupid, over-plotted, and a waste of its good cast and our time.

The entire series screened for review. The first two episodes are currently available on Apple TV+

Palm Royale

Series Creator– Abe Sylvia

Series Writers– Logan Faust, Juliet McDaniel, Sherry Holman, Kelly Hutchinson, Sharr White, Celeste Hughey, Becy Mode, Emma Rathbone, & Abe Sylvia

Series Directors– Tate Taylor, Claire Scanlon, Stephanie Laing, & Abe Sylvia

Apple Studios, Boat Rocker Studios, Jaywalker Pictures