Margo’s Got Money Troubles–Cash is King
Created by David E. Kelley (of “Big Little Lies”, “Nine Perfect Strangers”), Margo’s Got Money Troubles, breaks new ground with quirky, colorful characters . Tackling sex work, sexual predation, addiction, desperate unemployment, and parenting, Margo’s Got Money Troubles is spiced with humor and farce, and bits of magical realism.
Can we believe these characters represent real people’s lives or an allegory for what real people are going through in our world today? Life keeps throwing curveballs, yet some of us are lucky, not only to survive but to find a modicum of joy in the process.
Margo (Elle Fanning) narrates her own story. Giving voice to her aspiring career as a writer while attending college, her life changes irrevocably when she has an affair with her married creative writing professor with whom she becomes pregnant. Cavalier and shirking any responsibility for Margo’s current situation, the professor will have nothing to do with Margo.
Enter Margo’s mother Shyanne (Michelle Pfeiffer), a struggling Hooters waitress. She wants to be there for her daughter. Disheartened that Margo is repeating her past as a single mother whose lover abandoned any obligations as a father, Shyanne also understands how Margo will have to abandon her dreams.
Margo refuses to be deterred. She’ll raise the child on her own, (naming him Bodhi, after the Buddhist term for enlightenment). Somehow she masterminds a living as a quirky sex entertainer. Her estranged dad (Nick Offerman), Jinx, a former wrestling celebrity, becomes the childcare provider. Friends–including an adorable roommate (Thaddea Graham) and fellow sexworkers and family help with childcare.
Shyanne is still furious at Jinx for abandoning Margo, but adds a welcoming comic element as a grandmother. Bodhi cries inconsolably every time Shyanne tries to hold him. In hilarious style, Jinx becomes the father anyone would adore–a baby whisperer. And his regrets and remorse are compounded as Shyanne wishes to move on and forget he ever existed in her life. Moreover, Shyanne is planning to remarry–to Kenny, an upright minister who adores her (Greg Kinnear).
There are moments of farce in the OnlyFans employment Margo chooses, getting tips and lucrative payments for flashing her body and composing witty quips. Margo is now an internet sensation with the avatar, “Hungry Ghost” (also perhaps a reference to Buddhist mythology?)
With a zap of Lucha Libre style wrestling (and a wildly crazy cameo by Nicole Kidman), the zany life of the main characters lift off the screen as animated, almost cartoonish figures. The opening credits underscore the “gamesmanship” of the drama: play the game or step aside.
Margo’s Got Money Troubles is not for everyone. The performances by the entire cast are extraordinary, on the liminal edge of campy but never without emotion for all of their choices.
Worth a watch and judge for yourself!
Availability: Apple TV