Review: Don’t judge ‘Love’ series by its name

From the man who wrote “The 40 Year Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up” comes an original series where Judd Apatow brings “Love” to Netflix.

“Love” combines comedy and drama —cleverly named “dramedy” — with fresh faces and an addictive storyline. The series is 10 episodes long with each episode roughly 30 to 40 minutes each, and it is worthy of your next binge-watch session. The actors in the show, Paul Rust as Gus Cruikshank and Gillian Jacobs as Mickey Dobbs, seem down to earth and believably authentic in their roles.

The show is centered on Cruikshank, the shy pushover, and Dobbs, the girl with a hardened exterior, as they go through life facing the struggles of relationships throughout the series. The show does a great job in the first episode establishing the characters’ personalities and underlying problems in their lives, but the way the show intertwines plots is what hooks you in and makes it binge worthy.

Aside from Jacobs, who played Britta Perry on “Community,” and Paul Rust, who played Dennis Cooverman in “I Love You, Beth Cooper,” the show doesn’t have any big name actors. And it works. With a new television series comes new faces, and not recognizing many actors or actresses in the show is refreshing because you don’t associate anyone for a previous character they played.

The team of Apatow and Rust, who is also a writer for “Love,” makes for hilariously awkward situations that anyone who’s been in an up-and-down relationship can relate to. The way the characters react with candid facial expressions and bursts of brutal outbreaks really captivates the joys and pains of dating.

Season one of “Love” is relatively new to Netflix, being added in the recent update in February. The show has been out for almost a month now and has maintained an 87 percent on the Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes. In comparison, another popular Netflix original, “Narcos: Season One” holds a 78 percent. Although there is only one season available for streaming, when Netflix signed the series, it agreed to shoot at least two seasons. I look forward to the next.