‘The Perfect Couple’s opening song’s mood is a far cry from the show’s actual themes
If you were to guess the genre of Netflix’s latest hit series The Perfect Couple solely by watching its opening credits montage, you would assume it’s a romantic comedy with some drama sprinkled in between. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
The montage features almost all of the show’s lead cast: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Meghann Fahy, Eve Hewson, Dakota Fanning, Billy Howle, Jack Reynor, Ishaan Khatter, Isabelle Adjani, and Sam Nivola, dancing to the tune of Meghan Trainor’s 2024 release Criminals.
A peppy dance number, while the song’s lyrics don’t necessarily allude to criminal activity, their literal meaning does fit right in with the show’s themes. The song has seen its YouTube views rise meteorically since the murder mystery’s Netflix release, with the video’s comment section peppered with mentions of Jenna Lamia’s show.
The dance is set during rehearsal dinner and follows a well-choreographed routine, enabling the actors to show off their dancing chops. While the montage feels utterly misplaced considering what follows it each episode, even the harshest critics of the show will admit that it is shot quite well and looks good as a stand-alone scene.
The dance sequence manages to capture the festive mood that is shown in the series at least for the first episode, following which the show converts into a full-fledged whodunnit. Based on Elin Hilderbrand’s New York Times bestseller of the same name and adapted for the screen by Jenna Lamia, the show follows the murder of a social media influencer at the wedding venue of her best friend and a star novelist’s son.
The series has made a few changes from the book, under the supervision of Hilderbrand, who serves as one of the executive producers on the show. One of those changes was renaming the bride from Celeste Otis to Amelia Sacks to avoid confusion with HBO’s hit drama, Big Little Lies. The decision was made keeping Nicole Kidman in mind, who portrayed a key character of Celeste in the HBO show. The other pivotal part where the series differs from the book is the ending.
The Perfect Couple is Hilderbrand’s third book in the Nantucket series, succeeding A Summer Affair and The Castaways, which were released in 2008 and 2009, respectively. The most recent release in the series is Swan Song, which came out in June 2024. The book follows similar themes to The Perfect Couple, based around rich people and a murder.
According to Luminate’s streaming ratings, The Perfect Couple had a stellar first week in terms of viewership, clocking in a viewing time of 3.4 billion minutes. Among all the recent TV releases, the Netflix thriller managed to surpass its competitors with ease, with the second-placed Hulu show The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives managing 781.1 minutes watched. The Perfect Couple’s thrilling premise and the presence of multiple Hollywood regulars has contributed to its success, with people tuning in despite the mixed reviews from critics.
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