Rashida Jones and a Robot Star in Apple’s Stylish, Unsatisfying Mystery ‘Sunny’: TV Review
variety.comAlison Herman TV Critic From “Shōgun” to “Blue Eye Samurai” to “Tokyo Vice,” Japan has been having something of a moment on American TV.
Last year, Apple TV+ introduced “Drops of God,” a live-action manga adaptation about a wine empire’s succession crisis, to stateside viewers.
With “Sunny,” its new A24-produced half-hour dramedy that stars Rashida Jones as an American housewife abroad, the company now brings this trend in-house.
A buddy mystery that pairs Jones’ Suzie Sakamoto with the title character, an intelligent “homebot” left to Suzie by her missing husband, Masa (Hidetoshi Nishijima), “Sunny” conveys an immersive, eye-catching vision of the near future, even when the central storyline can’t quite deliver on its attempts at character-driven suspense. “Sunny” isn’t animated, like “Blue Eye Samurai,” or a period piece, like “Shōgun” and “Tokyo Vice.” Instead, the show is distinguished by a soft sci-fi aesthetic reminiscent of Spike Jonze’s “Her.” Suzie, Masa and their young son live in Kyoto, a city with historic architecture and serene religious sites that contrasts with dense, tall, neon-lit Tokyo.
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