BEEF -- The Worst Kind of Dramedy

4/5/2023

Review by Dan Skip Allen

There are always those moments when you see a trailer of a film or television show, and think it looks good, until you actually see the said show or film. That is the situation with Beef, the latest dramedy from Netflix. The cast was a huge draw for me to see this series, but even they couldn't save it for me. This show ended up being a complete disaster in every sense of the word. And I really wanted to like it.

Danny Cho (Steven Yeun) is a struggling home repair man who lives with his lazy brother. They used to work for their parents at their hotel before it was bought out from underneath them by shifty business practices. One sunny afternoon, he is at a traffic light, and he gets beeped at by a passenger in a white SUV. This causes him to have road rage, and he chases after the offender. They end up going on a race through the streets of their California town, which causes damage to a man's garden and yard.

It turns out the person in the White SUV was a successful entrepreneur, and mother Amy Lau (Ali Wong). She has a husband and a little girl. From the outside looking in, her life seems idyllic. She has a beautiful home she renovated herself, and her husband is an artist that makes a lot of money. She should be happy with her life, but she's not. She's miserable. She wants more than to be the token wife of a popular artist and the daughter-in-law of his equally artistic mother.

This incident starts a series of events that make each of these two people try to one-up each other with (at first) childish pranks, like peeing all over the floor of a bathroom, but end up in the arson of a house for one of them. The pranks get very elaborate between the first one and the last, and a bunch of other people end up getting involved whether they want to or not.

The cast is vast of a bunch more Asian comedians, who all fill space in this rivalry that forms between these two immature people. Some of them are just in the way, like the cousin of the main character, a church pastor, and the husband of Wong's character. They all serve a purpose, but in the end, they are just wasted space so this rivalry could grow or drag on further than it should have. This series is way too long!

There are ten episodes of this show, and most of them are thirty OR SO minutes long, but they seem to go a lot longer than that. One crazy event after another keeps this series going for way too long. All the various events are caused by a convoluted story that entwines many characters. What may be the ultimate reason for all this? What repressed sexual tension between the two lead characters, and anxiety and depression? It's hard to tell with all the craziness going on in the show.

One redeeming quality the series has is the choice of music played during the entire show, and that is '90s grunge music from various bands I loved during those years of my life, and afterwards, like Smashing Pumpkins and Hoobastank, to many more I listen to still to this day. It's weird that a show I'm not all that enamored with has such a great soundtrack that I love so much. I'm sure many who watch the series will feel the same way as I do on this matter.

Beef tries to be this clever show that mixes all these subjects of life in it. It has a very good, mostly Asian cast of comedians and actors. Because of my disdain for the structure and direction of the series, the episodes seemed way too long. And ten episodes were too many. This series seemed to me an excuse for the creator to get some repressed sexual tension out in the form of these characters. The inspiring event was enough for me to get on board with this idea. Everything in between seemed way overboard and I wasn't onboard this sinking ship from the very beginning. I may be in the minority though! Who knows, but this show was bad to me in the worst way possible. I didn't care about the characters or what they were found in the least. This show was a waste of my time.

Beef streams on Netflix beginning April 6. All ten episodes reviewed.

Rating: 1/5

12 Comments

Hmmm link

4/10/2023 02:46:19 am

After reading your bio I now get why you would create a review like this. It’s clear you have a white man fetish. For those who get it: it was excellent. For those who don’t (you) I suggest marathoning Al Pacino doing the same accent a million times to satiate your obsession with white men. I say with this was kindness: stay away from POC media (it flys way over your head)

5/10/2025 02:58:18 am

lmao, you're going with the racism angle? i'm asian and this series was idiotic, poorly written drivel. maybe if they had hired actual talented and qualified writers it could have been a great show, but of course they don't hire the talented or the best anymore, especially in hollywood. this critic's review was on point. and if the asian cast had been replaced by white people, it would have been trashed.

Tulio

4/17/2023 07:34:04 am

1 out of 5…. Wow…not much to say to that… you must be a very boring person.

The serie is just superb! Like nothing else, totally refreshing. Dont mind this self called critic.

Braeden

4/17/2023 04:34:19 pm

Nobody agrees with you weirdo. Your a cornball

George

4/20/2023 12:17:18 am

Are you just trying to sound different here? Pull the stopper out of your ego bottle man

John Sarnoff

4/23/2023 04:58:43 am

What exactly do you like? This show was entertaining and very well acted by both leads. Convoluted? Did the story line confuse you in some way? I suppose you need a Yang with the Ying but you really may want to seek another hobby, because this hopefully isn’t your job. Let me guess Fast and the Furious were great films?

J Sasaki

4/26/2023 11:45:02 pm

I’m Asian and I found the series disturbing and not funny. I’ve been a huge fan of Ali Wong but this series had one pitch throughout-mass hysteria. For comedy to be funny it has to be believable. This wasn’t.

Dan

5/5/2023 05:51:18 pm

Actually couldn't agree more! So many sheep jumping on the "It's amazing" bandwagon. It contains some good performances, but overall it's dull, repetitive and contrived. Struggled to finish the series tbh.... 🤦

Wes

7/24/2023 05:28:46 pm

Agree with Dan’s review, and sentiments.

I give Beef 2/5 vs. his 1/5 but it is certainly very over-rated. Positive reviews too often read like MAGA replies to anyone trying to make a valid and honest political point. Beef may be mind-blowing to someone only used to mediocre films and generic TV thrillers, but to jaded film-goers like myself, Beef is rambling, unfocused, subplot heavy, and a chore to finish.

Beef is at its best when the two brothers interact, and when the elder’s cousin (early on) is shown. But far too often secondary characters disappear for long stretches, or altogether. At ten episodes, Beef is four episodes too long. And the finale is just fever dream rubbish.

Alas, even a clunker like Unhinged kept my interest going better than Beef, which supposedly is built around a “road rage” incident, but is only a catalyst for a patchwork of loony events to follow. Disappointing, and especially considering there are choices on Netflix far more deserving of wild praise than Beef has received.

Brael link

1/29/2024 07:23:00 pm

You’re right

Beef Sucks

2/8/2024 07:00:56 am

This was an absolute train wreck with moronic writing. Trash.

5/10/2025 03:24:37 am

thank you for your courage to write an honest review. i'm asian and an aspiring writer, and i agree with everything with every point you made. it was a boring, baffling and even painful experience as i made myself watch every single sh*t episode. i truly believe that if this had been an all white cast, the series would have been trashed. i'm deeply grateful to have endured this series though - the bar has been set so low (and won Golden Globes and Critic's Choice awards lol) that i feel little anxiety while writing my own script. just hope that this stupid woke sh*t is still going strong so as an asian-american FEMALE i have an edge in getting my script read. maybe i should rewrite my pilot and make my main character a lesbian for extra points, and i'll be sure to check the "non-binary" box on entry forms as i enter scriptwriting competitions (yes, this is an ACTUAL thing now).

BEEF -- The Worst Kind of Dramedy

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