Your Friends & Neighbors (Apple TV+) Review

Apple TV+’s Your Friends & Neighbors exposes the complacency of the upper class while exploring the vulnerabilities we hide behind our chosen façades.

We all share it, and at some point, our vulnerabilities break us; other times, they make us. Jon Hamm, of Landman, stars in the show, which is sure to be another successful notch in the streaming giant’s fruitful belt; and though it’s still early, Your Friends &and Neighbors is likely to be reviewed as one of the best shows of the year.

Jon Hamm is Andrew “Coop” Cooper, a successful hedge fund manager who has it all… mostly. He had it all – a wife, two kids, ridiculously oversized house, fancy cars, high-priced country club memberships, notoriety, and respect – right up until he came home from work one day and caught his wife in bed with his best friend. Ouch. It’s a scene reminiscent of Luke Wilson’s early return home from a business trip in Old School, where he finds his wife in a provocative position in bed as two half-naked strangers jump out of his bathroom: a total shock and an alarming surprise. In Coop’s case, though, no one jumped out of his bathroom naked and blindfolded. 

Coop struggles to grapple with his recent divorce from Mel (Amanda Peet, of Brockmire), who not only kicked Coop out of their house and moved her lover Nick (Mark Tallman, of Daredevil: Born Again) in, but who also continues giving all their bills to Coop to pay. He still loves Mel, and she him, but the damage has been done, and even though their divorce was amicable, there’s still enough tension between the two thick enough to suffocate an entire room of people. Coop’s semi-perfect life takes a major detour when, after a night out turns into a weekend romp with a beautiful woman, he returns to work only to suddenly be fired from his high-profile job in disgrace.

Things go from bad to worse when his boss, Jack (Corbin Bernsen, of The Curse), refuses to relinquish any capital Coop has built on his own in the company, not only leaving him jobless but also penniless and blackballed in the industry. Why? One way to look at it is because his boss sucks and has had it out for him for quite some time; however, in reality, Jack set him up to be fired. Now worried, depressed, scared, and desperate, Coop gets an idea so opposite to his true nature, he can’t help but pursue it when his adrenaline starts pumping.

Living in a nice, upscale neighborhood – the kind of place that is gated and patrolled and where everyone is so secure that they don’t lock their doors at night – Coop starts to take note of his neighbors’ complacency in their comfortable, rich havens. So, he resorts to casually stealing from the homes of his friends in the exceedingly affluent Westmont Village. It’s fun at first, but then he starts to discover that the people he thought he knew operate behind a wealthy façade of secrets, affairs, and danger. In other words, their vulnerabilities. When a monkey wrench is thrown into his hustle that turns his world upside down, it lands him in the one place he doesn’t want to be. 

The opening scene of Your Friends & Neighbors sums up Coop’s entire storyline and experience with just one word: SH*T. It’s never good to wake up on a cold, hard floor next to a dead guy, covered in his blood, with no memory of what happened and every inclination to run. But when he trips and falls into the pool, he receives a wake-up call and is hit with reality: How did he get here, and how did everything go so wrong so fast?

Your Friends & Neighbors picks up here and backtracks through the events leading up to this moment, and Hamm unfolds his story in brilliant voice-over narration full of sarcasm, levity, and poignant introspection. He heartily guides us through his crimes and what makes them high risk and easily accessible, and he educates us on the items being stolen, what their financial value is, and how he plans to move the merchandise. Watching him work is very entertaining, even if it isn’t our main focus.

This is Hamm’s first leading role in a drama series since Mad Men, and he delivers like a pro who never stepped away for even a half a hot second from the limelight. He’s commanding, he’s engaging, he’s relatable, and he’s so mysteriously intuitive that we just can’t help but become wholly invested in his character’s evolution.

Similarly, Your Friends & Neighbors finds Amanda Peet in her best role since The Whole Nine Yards trilogy. She’s a fabulous dramatic and comedic actress, and she combines both talents here and mixes them with Hamm’s acting chops to create an on-screen chemistry full of sparks. They share a quirky dynamic of relatable banter that’s almost as good as what she shared with Bruce Willis in The Whole Nine (and Ten) Yards. They’re a perfect pairing.

What’s clever about this series is that it leads audiences to believe the story is about a successful hedge fund manager who disgracefully loses his job and resorts to casually stealing from his friends and neighbors, but it’s not completely. If you look closely enough and pay attention to what’s happening between the lines, you’ll discover the real narrative focuses on the exploration of one’s identity after the façade has crumbled and the truth has been exposed. 

Furthermore, Your Friends & Neighbors reminds us that life is a series of decisions, and it’s our decisions that determine our actions and our actions that determine our consequences. It’s also a reflection on the moments that force you to consider how far you can drift away from what has become your life without actually going anywhere. As Coop explores himself, he must decide whether to identify with the entitlement of the rich or continue exploring this new, awakened side of himself—the real, raw, dirty side of reality that comes with not being part of the upper echelon. Still, he has no idea the struggles that come with not being rich because he’s living a life of crime to keep up his class status to avoid gossip, judgment, and being ostracized.

Overall, Your Friends & Neighbors is a binge-worthy drama that’ll have you pondering your views on social class dynamics, family dynamics, and self-dynamics. It will also have you exploring your own vulnerabilities as they relate to the simple fact that everyone shares them. It’s only when we go behind the curtain to acknowledge what our vulnerabilities are that we can do something about them, but until that happens, the wall stays up and the façade painted, which is the one thing that keeps vulnerabilities rooted in place.  

The two-episode season premiere of Your Friends & Neighbors will be available to stream on Apple TV+ on April 11, 2025, followed by weekly episode releases on Fridays through May 30.

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