Review: Hulu’s FUTURE MAN ✭✭✭✭✩
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are executive producers on Future Man and directed the pilot, but I was more drawn to the fact it’s co-created by Howard Overman — working alongside the Sausage Party (2016) writing duo of Kyle Hunter and Ariel Shaffir.
Why? Who? Well, Overman’s the guy behind E4’s Misfits, the ‘ASBO superhero’ series Hulu noticed was creating online buzz, so bought the US rights for their streaming service in 2011. That decision helped the low-budget British drama become an international success, and launched the US careers of Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones), Antonia Thomas (The Good Doctor), and Joe Gilgun (Preacher). The latter of whom clearly caught the eye of Rogen and Goldberg, who developed Preacher for AMC.
After years spent waiting for an American remake of Misfits (which is still technically in development), it seems Howard Overman has instead decided to make the leap to the US himself. Can he do for sci-fi what he did for superheroes, only on a larger canvas with more money? I hope so, but Overman’s name isn’t credited to any of the scripts, which seems very odd. Maybe he just came up with the whole idea and the project was taken forward more by Hunter and Shaffir? Future Man also doesn’t appear on his IMDb page at time of writing. Hmmm.
There’s actually a cute in-joke for Misfits fans in the opening sequence of Future Man, when Josh Futterman (Josh Hutcherson) is dreaming he’s his titular alter-ego in a war-torn future saving people’s lives. You may notice a little boy drops a plushie with a recognisable skeleton design, which echoes the Misfits opening titles sequence:
I don’t think many people would spot that, but it stood out to me as a Misfits fan… then I saw Howard Overman’s name in the credits and it all clicked.
Future Man is a bit of a patchwork of ideas and tropes, which it’s more than aware of. Josh is a janitor in a laboratory, literally cleaning the windows and peering in at scientists who are a lot more successful than he’ll ever be. The only thing he’s good at, or has any real passion for, is the video game Biotic Wars, which he’s determined to become the first person to ever complete. Then, one night, some lateral thinking about the final level results in Josh finally beating the game, before deciding to ‘beat off’ over the game’s mauve-haired heroine Tiger. Then, rather embarrassingly, Josh is rudely interrupted by the sudden appearance in his bedroom of the real Tiger (Scrubs’ Eliza Coupe) and her grizzled comrade Wolf (Preacher’s Derek Wilson).
Tiger and Wolf are there to recruit the legendary “Future Man” (Josh’s video game handle) to help them end the real Biotic Wars. The game was apparently sent back through time as a recruitment test to identify their long-awaited Saviour, but Josh doesn’t believe them because “that’s The Last Starfighter. It’s the exactly same plot as the movie”.
Indeed, a lot of Future Man is a mishmash of geeky pursuits, together with some of the ribald humour Rogen and Goldberg are known for in their movies. There’s sex talk about Ms. Pac-Man that wouldn’t be out of place in a Judd Apatow movie, a Battlestar Galactica poster hangs on Josh’s wall, a sound cue from Back to the Future is used when Josh arrives in his family home circa 1969, Quantum Leap get a name-check, etc.
I was very surprised there wasn’t a Terminator quote thrown into the scene when Tiger, Wolf and Josh have to beat up a biker gang and steal their clothes. Josh’s surname is perhaps even a nod to Mr. Futterman from Gremlins, and not only an echo of his ‘Future Man’ identity?
All 13 episodes of Future Man were released on 14 November by Hulu, but overseas audiences don’t have native versions of that platform, unlike Netflix and Amazon. I have no idea where it’ll wind up in the UK. The show is produced by Sony Picture Television, but let’s hope it doesn’t get shunted away to their Sony TV channel that nobody watches here. It seems like something more suited to the bigger streaming channels, but if Hulu don’t want to play nice with their rivals it would also suit E4 or Sky1.
I’m certainly interested in watching more. The storyline was broadly predictable fare because it’s an amalgamation of lots of things you’ve seen before, but it never felt like you were just sat around waiting for dots to connect. This is partly because the script really moved and contained more laugh-out-loud moments than I was expecting, but also because the characters are instantly likeable and fun.
I liked Josh Hutcherson when I first saw him as a child actor in The Bridge to Terabithia (2007), but he was miscast as a heartthrob in The Hunger Games saga (2012–15) so I’m glad this role plays more to his strengths. He has a look and charm that reminds me of the late Anton Yelchin (Green Room), which this series knows exactly what to do with. Wilson and Coupe are very two-dimensional as “video game characters” who spend the pilot looking tough and doing bad-ass things that makes their ‘Saviour’ appear inadequate, but I’m sure those roles will deepen over time.
There are also some brief appearances for a surprisingly excellent supporting cast, with veteran actors Ed Begley Jr. and Glenne Headley¹ (Dick Tracy) as his parents, Keith David (Community) as Dr. Elias Kronish, and Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense) as Dr. Stu Camillo. The latter is particularly fun and unexpected, as I still can’t believe the cute saucer-eyed kid from A.I: Artificial Intelligence (2001) has grown up to become a tubby bearded guy pushing 30. I guess it has been nearly 20 years since he ‘saw dead people’, incredibly.
¹ Tragically, Glenne Headley died while filming Future Man earlier this summer, so the first episode is rightfully dedicated to her memory. RIP.
Future Man’s first episode feels what one might expect from the people making it; it’s fast-paced, energetic, subversive, geeky, and with a sense of humour familiar from Farrelly Brothers movies. There are times when the trashy material seems beneath the quality of this cast, but it certainly gets your attention and is an enjoyably bonkers experience that’ll tempt you back for more.
Where else does the fate of the world rest on preventing a young black kid from contracting herpes?
Cast & Crew
writers: Kyle Hunter & Ariel Shaffir.
directors: Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg.
starring: Josh Hutcherson, Eliza Coupe, Derek Wilson, Ed Begley Jr. & Glenne Headly.
