Colin from Accounts on Paramount Plus is the year’s best rom-com

The year has not been one of the most memorable for romantic comedy. (It hasn’t been a vintage year for this undervalued genre for quite some time.) Only a few things have gone well: Rye Lane’s colorful walk-and-talk through the streets of South London, Red, White & Royal Blue’s fanfic-adjacent queer romance. In series, Apple’s PlatonicWith the delightful Rose Byrne-Seth Rogen pairing, the film tried to twist genres to center on a friendship that was obsessive and semi-toxic. Although it found some interesting material along the way, it was unable to reach its payoff due to the lack of a clear direction. It’s a fact that rom-coms are more tightly codified than any other genre. You have to follow the rules.

It’s important to keep the rules in mind while still looking natural. That’s exactly what Colin, Accountant does. The Australian comedy series that premieres this week on Paramount Plus is very funny and charming. It hits the right notes for a romantic comedy, while adding a bit of spice, as well as a casual authenticity.

That authenticity might stem from the fact that the show’s stars and creators, Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall, are a real-life couple. That’s not necessarily a guarantee of on-screen chemistry, let alone the wit and perception to summon it on the page in the writing process. But Dyer and Brammall capture the exhilarating, painful, confusing frisson of two people realizing they’re into each other perfectly. They’re both just enormously likable, ensuring the most important love affair — between the audience and the characters — is also requited. Both seem like successful TV actors that you might have seen if your are Australian. Brammall is a vocalist in Bluey(He does, of course.

Ashley, in a pink dress with her hair up, carries Colin the dog in a backpack against a graffiti backdrop in Colin From Accounts

Dyer portrays Ashley, a 29-year old medical student going through a divorce. Brammall is Gordon, a terminally single, 40-something brewpub owner (actually an uncanny match for Rogen’s PlatonicThe character (as portrayed by the actor) is experiencing an early hipster midlife crises, with unused unicycles and drum kits. Ashley flashes Gordon a quick boob as she walks across the street, in front of Gordon’s cool, vintage Toyota. This causes Gordon to accidentally run over a dog. The strangers are now jointly responsible for the dog that has wheels instead of legs, and for 12,000 Australian Dollars in vet bills. Ashley is also homeless and looking for an apartment for pets.

It’s a perfect setup, putting the pair in opposition (over the bills and Ashley’s living arrangements) at the same time as it throws them together, all instigated by a dash of anarchic sexual tension. This also means Colin, Accountant — the title refers to the name they bestow on the hapless dog — is perfectly poised to exploit the differences and similarities in the lives that these two confused, mildly messy, sharp-witted, and kind people are drifting through.

Gordon’s life is filled with work, his family, and dating apps. Ashley has an overbearing drama-sponge of a mother (Helen Thomson), demanding studies, hedonistic friends, and a vague sense that the feeble grip on life’s practicalities that goes with being in your 20s is starting to get old.

Gordon and Ashley lean toward each other over a table in a deserted brewpub in Colin From Accounts

They don’t know what to do. When they’re together, the unpredictable spark between them — usually manifesting in thrillingly unstable banter — only makes things more confusing, but sometimes in a good way. In the second episode, they tank one of Gordon’s dates by perversely pretending to be brother and sister; the following scene, as they revel in their triumphant failure across Gordon’s kitchen island, crackles with an irresistibly weird energy. Here are two people who are not remotely ready for each other but clearly won’t be able to leave each other alone, and it’s a joy to watch.

Because Colin, Accountant This is more of a television series than a feature film. On its way to the inevitable ending, there are too many set-ups. There’s an accidental dick pic, a power outage at the bar, the passing of a racist aunt. Others, however — like an excruciating birthday dinner at Ashley’s mum’s house with her odious boyfriend in the episode “The Good Room” — productively deepen the drama and sharpen the humor, keeping it right on the edge of unsafe. The genius and delight of Colin, Accountant: It’s a deeply comforting show, with adorable leads, that still feels like it can surprise you with the tartness of its jokes and the depth of its feeling.

Colin, AccountantParamount Plus now offers streaming of the movie.

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