First reviews of Seth Rogen’s ‘The Studio’ praise Hollywood satire following SXSW premiere
It was the response a studio head would love. On Friday night at the South by Southwest Film & TV Festival in Austin, Texas, Apple TV+ premiered the first episodes of its new Hollywood comedy The Studio to several rave reviews from attendees.
The result should not surprise historians of the annual Austin event. The Studio co-creator, director, writer, executive producer, and star Seth Rogen has enjoyed many successful launches at SXSW, including Knocked Up, Neighbors, Sausage Party, Long Shots, and Good Boys.
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“The Studio is the best new TV series since the first season of Hacks. It is so clever and funny and well directed and perfectly acted. I can’t wait for everyone to see it,” wrote Variety co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh.
Inverse editor Hoai-Tran Bui called The Studio, “Entourage, but for Film Twitter (positive). Really enjoyed seeing this with a crowd, whose laughter was so loud, I missed 20% of the dialogue.”
In The Studio, Rogen stars as Matt Remick, "the newly appointed head of embattled Continental Studios. As movies struggle to stay alive and relevant, Matt and his core team of infighting executives battle their own insecurities as they wrangle narcissistic artists and craven corporate overlords in the ever-elusive pursuit of making great films. With their power suits masking their never-ending sense of panic, every party, set visit, casting decision, marketing meeting, and award show presents them with an opportunity for glittering success or career-ending catastrophe. As someone who eats, sleeps, and breathes movies, it's the job Matt's been pursuing his whole life, and it may very well destroy him."
"I got into all this because I love movies. But now I have this fear that my job is to ruin them," Rogen’s Remick says in the show’s pilot episode. That’s the show’s central conflict, and, according to Rogen, is based on truth. "That was said to us in a meeting 20 years ago,” Rogen told Esquire recently, "by the schmuck who was dealing with us on some bad script that never went anywhere, and we just never forgot it."
In addition to Rogen, the cast includes Ike Barinholtz, Kathryn Hahn, Chase Sui Wonders, and Catherine O’Hara. Martin Scorsese, Olivia Wilde, Sarah Polley, Ron Howard, and Anthony Mackie are significant Hollywood names who play versions of themselves.
The Studio was created by Rogen and Evan Goldberg, plus Emmy winners Peter Huyck and Alex Gregory (Veep), and Frida Perez. It is one of Apple TV+’s top Emmy Awards priorities this season and is expected to compete in several top categories. The series starts streaming on March 26. See more reviews below.
Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter: “From episode to episode, I squirmed and groaned and held my breath. Between chapters, I had to steel myself to keep going. There were moments I could hardly see the screen at all — sometimes because I was peeking through my fingers, but mostly because I was laughing too hard. The Studio’s strain of cringe humor won’t be for everyone; even as it mellows in the second half of the season, it remains too intense to wind down with or throw on in the background. But for those willing to get on its frazzled wavelength, this is a strong contender for the best new comedy of 2025.”
Belen Edwards, Mashable: “The Studio's love of film shines through in every episode. It's as much an ode to movies as it is a frustrated scream about what the cinematic landscape has become, and that tension propels The Studio to full-on comedy gold.”
Ben Travers, Indiewire: “Kathryn Hahn and Catherine O’Hara bring the house down. The latter thrives during the occasionally labored long takes, leaning on her background in improvisational comedy to listen, react, and take command as needed. As Continental’s previous studio head, Patty, she’s indelibly delicate one minute and equally demented the next — a mentor to Matty who’s still recovering from the betrayal of losing her perch. Hahn’s part isn’t as integral — she’s almost exclusively comic relief — but she starts Maya at a manic 10 and just keeps pushing the throttle until she’s primed to explode in the finale — which fits her character, fits the narrative, and fits the need for absolute hilarity.”
Dave Nemetz, TVLine: “Matt’s affection for classic cinema is endearing, and The Studio is heavily steeped in film history … but maybe too steeped. Storylines hinge on arcane cinematic terms like ‘the magic hour oner,’ and you’ll need an encyclopedic knowledge of film history to catch all the jokes. It’s all a bit self-indulgent, like Rogen and his pals wrote something to make themselves giggle and didn’t worry about who else would get it. The pace is frenetic as well, with lots of breathless walk-and-talks set to a frantic jazz score, a la the Oscar-winning film Birdman, and it all gets exhausting after a while.”
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