With so much content on offer across multiple streaming platforms, it can be hard to sort the wheat from the chaff. Netflix may have had a tumultuous year in 2022 but if you search hard enough there are plenty of decent shows to enjoy on the streamer.
Just before Christmas, Netflix quietly put out 8-part Spanish series ‘Smiley’ with very little fanfare (at least here in the UK where foreign-language content doesn’t seem to be a priority for the streaming giant). An adaption of the stage show of the same name by Guillem Clua, ‘Smiley’ is a delightfully breezy romantic comedy that finds two very different characters connecting by accident.
Bar tender Àlex (Carlos Cuevas) thinks he’s found the one until the could-be love of his life decides to ghost him after they hook up. Determined to speak his mind, Àlex leaves a very angry voicemail but doesn’t realise that he’s dialled the number of a complete stranger called Bruno (Miki Esparbé), an architect who couldn’t be more polar opposite. Bruno decides to return the call and explain the mishap and the two men decide to meet up for a blind date.
What follows is hilarious, at times heart-wrenching but always effortlessly charming. Àlex and Bruno are two men who would ordinarily never cross paths. While Àlex trades on his good looks and physique to bed-hop, Bruno hopes to settle down with a monogamous partner for a quiet life. Sparks fly when the two meet as they butt heads but ultimately hook-up before entering into a back-and-forth over what they mean to each other while they’re dating other people.
I won’t give away any more of the main plot but I will say that there’s plenty to enjoy outside of Àlex and Bruno too. Àlex’s best friend Vero (Meritxell Calvo) is facing her own love dilemmas with long-time partner Patri (Giannina Fruttero) who is renovating their dream home but hasn’t come out to her parents, while Javier (Pepón Nieto), co-owner of the bar Àlex works in, is surprised to find that true love may have just walked into his life.
‘Smiley’ succeeds thanks to the zippy pace of the plot and the cast of characters you quickly become attached to. Even though Àlex and Bruno frustrate you at times, you can’t help but root for them to get together and the supporting characters are sufficiently fleshed out that you care about what happens to them. There are plenty of surprises along the way as the story unfolds from Christmas to New Year, and the show has plenty of heart.
At the time of writing this, no announcement has been made about the future of the show but I have everything crossed that we’ll get another season. ‘Smiley’ is without a doubt one of the most charming shows I’ve seen in a long time and I couldn’t wait to see how the story progressed. If you love Spanish-language drama or you just fancy. A good old-fashioned romantic comedy to distract from the miserable January blues, I heartily recommend you put ‘Smiley’ at the very top of your watch list.
