Meet Margo, a bright, creative writing student starting college. One of life’s daydreamers, she describes herself in an opening monologue as “evidencing reality by rewriting it.” She’s a bright girl (so bright her lecturer is wondering why she is at California State University, Fullerton) with her whole life ahead of her. Her plans become undone when she starts a consensual, if not bland, affair with her married English lit lecturer, Mark (Michael Angarano), and becomes pregnant.
If life isn’t tricky enough for Margo (Elle Fanning), she has to handle her eccentric family. Her mother, Shayanne (Michelle Pfeiffer), is a former Hooters waitress who has now found church thanks to her new youth pastor boyfriend, Kenny (Greg Kinnear), and her father, Jinx (Nick Offerman), is an ex-wrestler drifting through life on his motorbike.
Elle Fanning’s Charming Performance Can’t Save This Sanitised, Surface-Level Take On Single Motherhood And Sex Work
The first episode is a quick run through Margo’s world, her roommates, her ambitions, and more importantly, her family. The second episode is where this comedy-drama finds itself and where Margo loses it all. After Margo gives birth, she drops out of class, her roommates move out, and the baby’s father wants nothing to do with it. Life moves quickly, and so does the plot of Margo’s Got Money Troubles.
After Margo decides to keep the baby and become a mom, she quickly realizes that single motherhood and making her own way in life are much harder than she expected. In a beat that comes too late into proceedings, Margo accidentally wanders into the world of OnlyFans. At first, it’s just sexy writing, responding to men and berating them, but it soon becomes something more taboo. The eight-part series takes a polite step away from explaining how Margo really makes money, whimsically depicting her work as less like pornography and more like an art installation.
Margo’s Got Money Troubles is wonderfully liberal in its depiction of OnlyFans work, never shaming the women for it. While it is a last resort for Margo, she doesn’t treat the online platform like it’s anything to be ashamed of. Instead, she comes alive and falls in love with herself and her creativity again. The show does make sure to put a distance between itself and the morals of this world. This version of OnlyFans is much more sanitised than the real-life one, and the show does all it can to not explore what sex work really is. It would have been a great opportunity to explore the realities of this type of work and its impacts on young women (which isn’t always bad) an highlight the nuances of why women go into this business. Sadly, Margo’s Got Money Troubles is stuck in a hyper-unrealistic pastel coloured alternative universe. Even when the proverbial shit hits the fan, the writing fails to pick a side.
Margo’s family is probably who will keep you pressing play on the next episode. Self-obsessed Shayanne is too busy trying to find her own happy-ever-after and process her own reluctance to become a mother to be part of Margo’s life. Her father, while mostly absent growing up, suddenly walks back into her life to play Mr. Nanny. Michelle Pfeiffer and Nick Offerman are MVPs of the series, playing wonderfully layered characters who could have easily become one-note villains. While Margot is a very nice young woman, an interesting mix of naivety and determination, Shayanne and Jinx are by far the most interesting part of this story. The show could have added another two episodes to further explore their relationship and their life away from their daughter.
The circumstances of Margo’s childhood are likely why she is as naïve as she is determined. It’s hard not to root for Margo, as frustrating as some of her decisions are. This is predominantly thanks to Elle Fanning’s performance. The actor shines on screen, a ball of likable charisma in every scene, giving one of her most physical roles to date. After her Oscar-nominated turn in Sentimental Value, Elle is continuing to pick surprising and varied roles. There’s no doubting Elle commits to Margo’s Got Money Trouble, in a performance that can finally shake off the child star label.
There is a lot going on in Margo’s Got Money Trouble, but too much of it is superfluous. The show skips between different plots, flitting too fast until it starts to get a personality crisis. The first episodes are a raw and honest portrayal of motherhood in all its explosions of breastmilk, dirty diapers, sleepless nights, and glory. This gets shoved aside after Margot turns to OnlyFans, and her family starts to take over her life. The series struggles to focus on just one topic, flitting among different people and plots and failing to really take the time to explore any of them.
Nicole Kidman appears in a show-stopping scene as a lawyer moonlighting as a wrestler, in her full shiny blue leotard glory. Then there is a late episode rush through a legal subplot as Margot fights for custody of her child. It’s expected but comes too late in proceedings to make the required impact.
While the characters are likable and the performance worthy of the A-list cast, Margo’s Got Money Trouble is entirely predictable. It glosses over some real big topics like abortion, drug addiction, sex work, and shoves them into playable, twee boxes. A miniseries about a single mother forced into OnlyFans work shouldn’t be as light and frothy as this. It doesn’t have to be a grim, gritty drama, but this show wastes its timely premise and talented cast on a forgettable miniseries that chooses the easy way out every time.
Margo’s Got Money Trouble introduces audiences to a host of morally grey characters and places them in a black and white world. The writing sets up complicated people in real-life situations but somehow oversimplifies everything and removes the jeopardy. The script is aware of how nuanced these people are but seems entirely allergic to exploring the grey areas of their life. This show ultimately fails to have a point of view and fails to really say anything about motherhood, OnlyFans work, and being a young modern woman.
Grade: C
Follow us on MSN for more content like this.
Margo’s Got Money Troubles
The daughter of a former Hooter’s waitress and an ex-pro wrestler, Margo is a recent college dropout and aspiring writer. Faced with a new baby, mounting pile of bills, and dwindling number of ways to pay them, Margo must find a way forward.
