Free Agents - Alone Together - DVD

Content: Alex (Stephen Mangan), a talent scout at the CMA agency, is still suffering from his separation from his wife. He sleeps around the office, likes to burst into tears when he thinks about his two children, and is firmly convinced he will now be alone forever. When he ends up in bed with his colleague and good friend Helen (Sharon Horgan), he sees a small glimmer of hope on the horizon. For Helen would be a good partner in her own right. She's attractive, the sex is good, she's someone Alex can talk to and feels very comfortable around. It's just too bad that the widowed Helen is no less relationship-disturbed than Alex. There are oversized pictures of her late husband all over her apartment, and even though she thoroughly enjoyed her brief affair with Alex, she just doesn't want to commit to a new man. And so begins a sometimes more, sometimes less romantic back and forth between two people who would actually fit so well together.

Free Agents - Zweisam einsam ran in 2009 on British television and was so successful that an American network tried 2011 on a US version with Hank Azaria. Both versions of the story, however, were given short lives. If you look at the six episodes of the British version, the short life itself is not really a negative weight, because the story is brought to an end with a conciliatory finale. Admittedly, further seasons could have been built on this, which one would have definitely wished for, if only because of the good chemistry between the two main actors. Nevertheless, the viewer is not left hanging in the air with the ending, as is unfortunately the case with many series that are already ended after the first season.

As a self-contained mini-series, the romantic comedy works really well. In doing so, the fact that the story, which is quite romantic in itself, is told in a refreshingly unromantic way with slight Harry and Sally leanings, makes it work. The dialogues are sometimes wonderfully biting, the humor not always politically correct and not only the main characters, but also the supporting characters quirky and somehow completely disturbed. This is especially true of Alex and Helen's boss, who is embodied by ex-Buffy mime Anthony Head not only in this British version, but later in the American version as well. The sex-obsessed Stephen with the rude mouth is the complete opposite of the more buttoned-up roles Head has played in other series such as just Buffy or most recently Merlin - The New Adventures. He takes obvious pleasure in saying the most obscene things, which leads to several really good laughs, but also to moments of delicious embarrassment. Matthew Holness as Dan, a colleague of Alex and Helen who is very focused on his career, also provides very funny moments. He doesn't only make friends with his openness, but he provides the viewer with plenty of amusement.

The more obvious it becomes that Alex and Helen belong together and the more the two of them stand in their own way, the more the romantic component of the series comes into play. But the creators deftly avoid slipping into the overly cloying and always have an ace up their sleeve even in more sentimental moments. That's not to say that some scenes don't really get to the heart and especially the finale is really beautiful. It's just the way Free Agents - Zweisam einsam tells its love story that sets this series apart from other romantic comedies. The only thing that really doesn't like here is the fact that after six episodes everything is already over. Nevertheless, for uninhibited romantics who like it just times not corny, but nasty, crude and not quite politically correct, absolutely recommended!

Picture + Sound: The implementation of the six episodes is on a technically good level. The picture is clean and pleases with a very nicely matched color scheme. The sound is rather unspectacular, whereby it is noticeable that the dialogues in the original English version seem somewhat more harmoniously fitted into the action. But overall, the whole is also here on a for a TV comedy absolutely satisfactory level. Good!

Extras: There are very entertaining audio commentaries on all six episodes by actors Stephen Mangan, Sharon Hogan and Anthony Head, as well as writer Chris Niel and director James Griffiths. The problem with the commentaries is that some of the speakers are very difficult to understand acoustically, and there are also no optional subtitles available. Nevertheless: who is powerful of the English language, should absolutely listen in here once.

Continues with an amusing Making of (approx. 18 min.), which throws a view of the emergence of the series versed with typically dry British humor. There's also just under 7 minutes of funny outtakes and a further 7 minutes of improvised footage. There are optional German subtitles for these extras, unlike the audio commentaries. Good!

Conclusion: Free Agents - Zweisam einsam is an unfortunately very short-lived comedy series from England that tells a wonderfully romantic story in a refreshingly unromantic way. Despite all their flaws very charming main characters, dry wit, partly quite crude dialogues and typical British situation comedy make the six episodes of the series absolutely worth watching! The DVD is technically well realized, the bonus material is quite manageable, but amusing. All this makes this disc then: absolutely recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp