Call My Agent! back with charm intact as old enemies reunite

It has been 11 years since Call My Agent! landed on Netflix with its Gallic charm and insider gags about the world of showbiz. Now the sitcom returns with the not-so-imaginatively titled Call My Agent! The Movie (Netflix).

Comebacks are having a moment on Netflix. This week, production began on The Inbetweeners 3, which brings the lads together 16 years after the sitcom ended its run on Channel 4. Could be awkward, but we’ll see.

On Call My Agent! the five-year gap is handled with customary flair. Super-PA Hervé (Nicolas Maury) bumps into an (unseen) acquaintance during a stroll by the Seine and fills them in on what has been happening in the spell since the Ask agency was swallowed up in a hostile takeover.

In short, Andrea is living her dream of directing her first movie; she is still not speaking to Gabriel for jumping ship; Noémie is now a producer; Hervé has made it into the theatre as an actor; and the grand dame of the piece, Arlette, continues to waft in and out of the story dispensing wisdom. 

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With everything essentially the same as viewers left it, director Émilie Noblet cracks on with her tale. Despite its supposedly minuscule budget, everyone seems to be involved with Andrea’s film, either repping the actors (including a boar - yes, you read that correctly).

So Andrea’s problems become the old gang’s problems, from temperamental leads to changeable weather messing with the shoot schedule. This being a French farce, there is plenty of post-midnight rendezvous, though in the case of Andrea and Noémie it’s to talk about the budget.

Along the way, we get to enjoy what Call My Agent! does best after office politics and actor tantrums: cameos. Past celebrity appearances have included Sigourney Weaver and Juliette Binoche. Here, it is George Clooney and Eva Longoria who get to show off their sense of humour. Let’s just say Clooney wins first prize. 

Cameos, showbusiness types lampooning themselves, monstrous egos at play in a fast-moving, cut-throat world of entertainment. Doesn’t this sound rather like The Studio, Seth Rogen’s multi-Emmy-winning satire? 

Yes, but Apple TV’s offering has a bigger budget, bigger names, bigger everything. The two properties differ in other ways. Call My Agent! is subtler, has more drama, and at times can even be rather moving, as when dealing here with growing old in a business that worships youth, or a court tussle over a child. 

Compare this to the smash-and-grab, not to be taken seriously comedy in The Studio. Plus, The Studio’s key players are a gallery of grotesques, whereas the Call My Agent! lot are people you might have an Aperol spritz with as they fill you in on who is working on a “secret project” - code for in rehab or caught up in #metoo - and other insider stuff.

But why get hung up on comparisons when you can enjoy both (with the right subscription). After all, lampooning the biz will never go out of business.