Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Palm Royale’ On Apple TV+, Where Kristen Wiig Schemes Her Way Into The High Society Scene In 1969 Palm Beach

Even though it happens all the time, it still amazes us when a series or movie that is jammed full of big A-list names fails miserably. When you think about it, though, it makes sense; with all of those stars competing for screen time, none of them tend to get the depth of character and meaty story arcs that would justify their presence. A new dramedy on Apple boasts a cast of luminaries, but can’t really figure out what do do with most of them.

PALM ROYALE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A fully-dressed woman floating in the water. “It’s all a blur. A hazy, crazy blur,” says a woman’s voice.

The Gist: Maxine Simmons (Kristen Wiig) has always wanted to belong… somewhere, anywhere. And, just having moved to the Palm Beach area — she’s holed up in a West Palm Beach motel — she has set her sights on getting into the most exclusive country club in town, the Palm Royale. She reads about the town’s society women in the Palm Beach Daily, aka “The Shiny Sheet,” and desperately wants to be a part of that crowd.

We go back to the beginning of the Palm Beach society’s season in 1969. When Maxine climbs over a back fence at the club and nonchalantly sits by the pool, ordering a grasshopper from Robert (Ricky Martin), the somewhat suspicious waiter. She overhears a conversation between the club’s self-appointed “queen bee”, Evelyn Rollins (Allison Janney), Dinah Donahue (Leslie Bibb), an up-and-comer in the club who is challenging Evelyn for supremacy but is dogged by cheating rumors, and two others: Mary Jones Davidsoul (Julia Duffy) and Raquel Kimberly-Marco (Claudia Ferri). As she tries to insert herself in the conversation Evelyn shoos her away with a withering look. Suddenly, Robert is hauling her into the office of the manager (James Urbaniak), who kicks her out and puts her face on a wall labeled “Do Not Let In.”

Maxine vows to find a way into the club. In the meantime, she goes to the condo of an older woman named Norma (Carol Burnett) and grabs some more of her couture pieces so she can continue to dress the part as she tries to weasel her way in. She seems to have a rapport with Norma until we see that Norma is comatose.

While she’s getting her nails done by her regular manicurist Mitzi (Kaia Gerber), Maxine sees Dinah arguing with a man who is not her husband. That gives Maxine the opening she needs. Instead of just running into Dinah though, she finagles it so Dinah runs into her — literally, with her car. From there, Maxine offers Dinah an opportunity to unload in a way she can’t with her society friends. That’s when Maxine learn Dinah is pregnant with her not-husband’s baby and wants to have an abortion.

After meeting feminism activist Linda Shaw (Laura Dern) — and disagreeing completely with what Linda’s mission is — Maxine goes to the bookstore named on Linda’s flyer and asks where her friend can get an abortion. Linda doesn’t go, but one of her fellow activists, Virginia (Amber Chardae Robinson), does; when she calls Maxine a feminist for looking out for Dinah, Maxine is alternately complimented and chagrined.

Through all of this, Dinah has been aware of Maxine’s angle, and the fact that, via the outdated fashions she was wearing, that she’s not part of the society scene. And when Maxine tells her she’s married to a member of the D’ellacourt family. Dinah doesn’t believe her, and continues to refuse to sponsor her for membership to Palm Royale. But Maxine manages to use her knowledge to her advantage, even if people like Dinah and Evelyn know she doesn’t belong in their group.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Palm Royale, created by Abe Sylvia (with Wiig as an executive producer) and based on the novel Mr. & Mrs. American Pie by Juliet McDaniel, feels like a scripted, period version of any of the Real Housewives series. It also gives out a similar vibe as the recent Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans.

Our Take: Despite the all-star cast of Palm Royale, and despite its lavish settings and costumes and a surprisingly effective performance from Kristen Wiig, we found it very difficult to give a rat’s patoot about what we were watching. The show is so full of caustic, craven and self-interested characters that we had no incentive to want to follow Maxine’s attempts to become a society woman further than the first episode.

Something just feels very cynical and depressing about the story, similar to how we felt about the aforementioned Capote Vs. The Swans. There are aspects of the story that have potential to be appealing, like the idea that these women are holding onto this antiquated view of what a prominent society woman looks like as the women’s liberation movement gains momentum into the 1970s. And, of course, it’s fun to see TV favorites we haven’t seen a ton of lately — namely Duffy and Mindy Cohn, who isn’t in the first episode — share the screen with the likes of Wiig, Dern, Janney, Bibb and Burnett. But the first episode left us shrugging our shoulders about the whole story.

Maxine’s desire to be a part of this society group looks completely insane at first, especially due to the lengths she goes to to befriend Dinah and infiltrate her life. We spent the entire first episode wondering why she’s trying so hard to get in with these obviously horrible women who survive on status and image and little else. What we know about Maxine at this point is that she’s a veteran of the pageant circuit, which surely informs her worldview. But her desperation to get in with this group, to the point where she’s stealing Norma’s jewelry to fund her club fees and to buy some more modern clothes, isn’t explained at all, short of the simplistic idea that she just wants to find a group of friends in her new locale.

The first episode does contain a twist, involving Josh Lucas’s character Douglas, that explains how Maxine has access to Norma and explains where Norma actually is. That twist, while filling in some plot holes that were introduced in the first episode, still doesn’t really explain why Maxine’s ambition is so off the charts that she lies, steals and schemes in order to be in this group of lying and scheming women.

We also know, via some first-season scenes made into a montage at the end of the episode, that there will be a shooting at some point. There are other twists and turns in the stories of some of the seemingly ancillary characters, like Dern’s Linda, that will tie them to the plot a little tighter. So there is potential for the story and the characters to get deeper.

But the first episode was so off-putting that we doubt we’re going to hang in long enough to find that depth, despite the cast and despite the fact that Wiig manages to embody Maxine in a more complete way than we’ve seen her do in any of her previous performances.

Sex and Skin: Nothing in the first episode.

Parting Shot: As we see the shot go off after the previously-mentioned montage, Maxine says, “I have no memory of the incident in question. That either makes everyone else liars or… I snapped.”

Sleeper Star: Amber Charade Robinson’s Virginia feels like the only character who is going to call any of these society women on their crap. At least there’s someone there who will.

Most Pilot-y Line: When the nurse comes out after Dinah’s abortion to explain what to expect, she puts out her hand to get the cash due; Maxine cluelessly slaps it and says, “Right on, sister.”

Our Call: SKIP IT. Palm Royale feels surprisingly cynical and empty for a prestige TV series with such a blockbuster cast. There is some potential for the show to get deeper than what we’ve seen, but enduring the rest of it to get to that depth isn’t something we’re willing to sign up for.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.