Our take
Glamorous could easily fit in the 2000s-era boom of workplace romantic comedies. Like Ugly Betty and The Bold Type before it, it follows a group of fashionable twenty-somethings hoping to climb the corporate ladder with their ideals intact, all while trying to impress their diva of a boss, who guides them with a sparkling iron first. But Glamorous is also very much of its time. Instead of a white heterosexual woman, a queer person of color leads the show. Marco is a new hire in a legacy business, and his youthful presence and acumen inspire the company to take bigger risks in capturing the Gen Z market.
Interestingly, Glamorous skips a lot of tropes that used to be par for the course in queer narratives—in this post-Glee world, gay people are no longer anomalies, so you won’t find a lot of the usual coming out and fitting in stories here. This, in turn, leaves a lot of room for the show to tackle newer issues, like how the gay community is painfully divided between masculine and feminine types (Marco’s frequent nemesis is Chad who, while openly gay, is hypermasculine and disapproving of Marco’s “Yas Queen energy”), or how corporations capitalize on queer markets (one of the best episodes in the series hilariously explores the icky gray area corporations enter whenever they launch pride campaigns). It’s easy to dismiss Glamorous as fluff, but it’s actually much smarter and more relevant than it seems.
The story
Aspiring influencer Marco lands a dream job with a makeup mogul and begins a dazzling journey of self-discovery amid work chaos and romantic challenges.
Elsewhere
"Glamorous is confident enough in its candy-hued fantasy to take us along for the ride. Much of that confidence comes from Cattrall."
— Alison Herman
After impressing supermodel-turned-makeup-magnate Madolyn Addison (Kim Cattrall), Marco (Miss Benny) lands a job at one of the biggest makeup companies in the world, where he juggles work, love, and life.
The youthful and diverse actors are a delight, and Miss Benny as Marco is inspired casting, but it’s hard to ignore the icon in the room: Catrall, Catrall, Catrall. The Sex and the City mainstay plays an icy boss with a heart of gold, and while she could have easily been a caricature, an all-too-familiar trope already perfected in the past, Catrall lends her character surprising warmth. There’s a poignancy in her protectiveness over her legacy, as well as a hilarity in her attempts to understand her fast-minded and outspoken team of young creatives. Her presence rounds off an exciting ensemble and gives this comforting show a dash of zest.
This fills in the gaping, glittery, heart-shaped hole movies like The Devil Wears Prada and shows like The Bold Type and Ugly Betty left in their wake.
Streaming arrival
Who picked it
Renee Cuisia is the lead curator at A Good Movie to Watch. In her spare time, she likes to watch K-dramas and analyze them to death. She's also seen You've Got Mail one too many times but is still convinced it's one of the greatest films out there.
