<\/p>\n
If the classic \u201cGoodbye, Mr. Chips\u201d were to be remade today, the Chipster\u2019s cheerio would be all about his affair with an undergrad, using the wrong pronouns and including Norman Mailer on his required-reading list. The campus drama has become so predictably about concupiscence and cancellation that an academic comedy\u2014say, \u201cVladimir\u201d\u2014might raise one\u2019s expectations. But as they say around the lit department, abandon all hope.<\/p>\n Created by Julia May Jonas and adapted from her novel, the eight-part \u201cVladimir\u201d is directed in part by one of TV\u2019s more reliable couples, Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (\u201cOnly Murders in the Building\u201d). Their star, Rachel Weisz, is an actress who needs no adjectives from me (see \u201cThe Constant Gardener\u201d just for instance). But despite the assemblage of first-rate parts, ignition proves elusive. Ms. Weisz never seems quite comfortable as the so-called M. And only if she were would the story about inappropriate lust between students and faculty\u2014and faculty and faculty\u2014be as amusing as she has to pretend it is.<\/p>\n The series is certainly an unflattering look at academia, but the cheap shots are pretty cheap, considering all the current acrimony surrounding higher education and the cartoonish way it\u2019s so often portrayed. The faculty members are spineless and blinkered; the students are privileged twits; the politics are about appeasement. The educators need an education. Some will think this is a documentary. Documentaries aren\u2019t hilarious either.<\/p>\n M\u2019s problems are the stuff of parody. Her fellow professor husband, John (John Slattery), is a serial philanderer with whom she has a longtime \u201cunderstanding\u201d\u2014that each would sleep around without repercussions. Unfortunately, their upstate New York college was not party to the deal: Six of John\u2019s former undergraduate bedmates have come forward to accuse him of\u2014well, it\u2019s not clear, actually. All involved were consenting adults. Some of the brief liaisons are at least 10 years old. The alleged power-dynamic issue isn\u2019t well-articulated. But John is in trouble, nonetheless. And so is M: Because she hasn\u2019t come out against John publicly, the English department wants to put her tenured self on administrative leave. The students are upset with M, her colleagues say, while stabbing her in the back. Which would concern her much more if she weren\u2019t besotted by the newest member of the faculty.<\/p>\n The animal magnetism of Vladimir (Leo Woodall)\u2014a writer with a wife, Cynthia (Jessica Henwick); a baby; a new novel; and a new job\u2014certainly eluded this viewer. But it has M doing hormonal cartwheels. There are regular visual manifestations of M\u2019s sexual fantasies involving Vlad and references to the political risks she runs in pursuing another teacher. But pursue she does. One reason Vlad himself doesn\u2019t quite convince as a character is that any author worthy of a university appointment would be at least marginally astute; not so oblivious to M\u2019s very discernible yearnings; and not so slow to pull the proverbial trigger. But, you know, eight episodes.<\/p>\n \u201cVladimir\u201d begs comparison to two other fairly recent defunct and superior comedies, for different reasons. One show was \u201cThe Chair,\u201d which starred Sandra Oh as a harried head of department and involved a professor (Jay Duplass) who gets canceled for giving his class of infants an ironic Nazi salute. The other is \u201cFleabag\u201d: Like Phoebe Waller-Bridge\u2019s acidic reprobate, Ms. Weisz\u2019s character is unconstrained by a fourth wall, sharing with us, reflecting, observing, making wisecracks but not being particularly funny. Ms. Weisz is shortchanged by the material, which likely wouldn\u2019t be improved by, say, a snappier delivery. Or a less self-absorbed M.<\/p>\n Everyone seems to be trying too hard, with the exception of Mr. Slattery, which is why he\u2019s the best thing here. John knows he\u2019s going to be called on the carpet, to the extent that a public hearing will be held and witnesses summoned. (A lot of this is profoundly depressing.) But he goes with it, accepts his incipient doom\u2014or whatever his lawyer daughter, Sid (Ellen Robertson), can wrangle\u2014and Mr. Slattery gives a wonderfully wry performance. Ms. Weisz has done comedy; she was great in \u201cThe Favourite.\u201d But this is a different kind of role. And a different kind of vehicle\u2014one in which the steam is coming mostly from under the hood. One wheel is in a rut. And the passengers will invariably be asking, \u201cAre we there yet?\u201d<\/p>\n Thursday, Netflix<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Anderson is the Journal\u2019s TV critic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.hindustantimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If the classic \u201cGoodbye, Mr. Chips\u201d were to be remade today, the Chipster\u2019s cheerio would be all about his affair with an undergrad, using the wrong pronouns and including Norman Mailer on his required-reading list. The campus drama has become so predictably about concupiscence and cancellation that an academic comedy\u2014say, \u201cVladimir\u201d\u2014might raise one\u2019s expectations. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2323830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[450361,346801,398520,390551,376457],"class_list":["post-2323829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-academic-comedy","tag-cancellation","tag-higher-education","tag-rachel-weisz","tag-vladimir"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rachel-Weiszs-Campus-Crush-on-Netflix-Entertainment-News.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2323829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2323829"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2323829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2323831,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2323829\/revisions\/2323831"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2323830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2323829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2323829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2323829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Vladimir<\/h2>\n