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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Lucy Mangan

Unstable review – this Rob Lowe nepo-sitcom is staggeringly joke-free

Rob Lowe Ellis Dragon John Owen Lowe Leslie Netflix United States
Rob Lowe as Ellis in Unstable
Rob Lowe as Ellis in Unstable. Photograph: John P Fleenor/Netflix

That the name of the eccentric biotech-genius-entrepreneur protagonist of Unstable is Ellis Dragon tells you everything you need to know about this Netflix comedy series. It knows it is supposed to be funny – it is absolutely committed to being so – and yet every effort just misses.

Ellis is played by Rob Lowe. Slightly more rumpled than he was in The West Wing, slightly less chiselled than he was in St Elmo’s Fire, but still dependably Rob Lowe – quick, charming and accomplished at selling the hell out of anything he finds himself in, which is the most valuable of his assets here.

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