A Perfect Couple, by Brooke Berman

If “Sex and the City” was sourced for its tastiest nuggets, Brooke Berman’s A Perfect Couple might be the outcome. Like an over-stuffed closet, it’s jam-packed with pat romantic philosophies that promptly explode all over the well-versed characters for juicy—and verbose—drama.

In this episode, uptight Amy (sympathetically played by Dana Eskelson), fiancée Isaac (James Waterston) and mutual best friend Emma (Annie McNamara) retreat to the couple’s countryside house for the weekend. A journal belonging to Isaac’s observant grandmother resurfaces, unhinging the wobbly relationship between the oddly matched lovers and their constant compadré.

Throughout, similarity to SATC makes the piece a bit too familiar: Amy’s stringent approach to love is Charlotte’s battle call with a snap of erudite Miranda. And as she beds everything in Vans, Emma’s cocky but transparent outlook is a tart mixture of Samantha’s sexual politics with Carrie’s quirks. Scene titles projected on a blue housefront and emo/strummy music finishes it off. While the ingredients are integrated, the girls are still in the gaggle—and oddly so. McNamara’s serious diction and maneuverings are better suited for a more esoteric piece, and the only meaty chemistry lies between the two ladies in their overly involved friendship.

But, this dejá vu is also what works for the piece. The topics and tone that nabbed worship for the series still hold pertinent and witty here. With an ear for zingers and moments of grace, Berman presents an enjoyable, if uneven, show investigating perennial subjects: relationships in all messy forms, and the ideas that get us stuck, unstuck and altogether befuddled as we try like hell to navigate them. A good show. Just not perfect.

A Perfect Couple
Rating: Great
At DR2
By Brooke Berman. Dir. Maria Mileaf. With Dana Eskelson, Annie McNamara, Elan Moss-Bachrach and James Waterston. 75 minutes. No intermission.