The Reel Review
A former high school football star/valedictorian must navigate feelings, friendships and family as he comes to terms with his sexuality during his freshmen year in college, in this LGBTQ+ comedy series created by and starring Benito Skinner, with Wally Baram (Shrinking), Mary Beth Barone and Adam DiMarco (The White Lotus).
Skinner, best known for his hilarious, viral Instagram, YouTube and TikTok posts under the moniker bennydrama7, achieves quite a feat in his leading man debut – think of Overcompensating as Skinner’s uniquely gay and somewhat autobiographical tale of self-discovery in the vein of 1999’s raunchy teen coming-of-age sex comedy American Pie. In addition to a perfectly cast set of lead actors, Overcompensating also features a boatload of big names – Charli XCX, Bowen Yang, Lukas Gage, Connie Britton, Andrea Martin, Didi Conn, James Van Der Beek, Kyle MacLachlan and a surprisingly hysterical Megan Fox.
At times the series is a little twee and lacks heft, DiMarco’s character is exceptionally unpleasant and Skinner, at 31, is not totally convincing as an 18-year-old, but these are minor criticisms for such a refreshingly fun, raunchy and even heartwarming tale of sexual awakening filled with sexual hijinks, friends behaving badly and cringey secret social clubs. That cliffhanger ending in the season finale means we must eagerly await a very likely Season 2.
REEL FACTS
• The cast and crew has joked that the first season was cursed because everyone kept getting eye infections, mirroring the subplot about Carmen’s pinkeye.
• Overcompensating received two Gotham TV Award nominations for Breakthrough Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Performance in a Comedy Series (Benito Skinner).
• Mary Beth Barone, who plays Ben’s older sister Grace, was also a staff writer on all eight episodes. She and Skinner launched a new Podcast, Ride, in 2023
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