What/If is on Netflix starring Renée Zellweger. Her heroine despises the moral principles of society, so she has unlimited opportunities for manipulation and revealing other people’s secrets. Zellweger’s character has his secrets too, but the series isn’t good enough that everyone can endure ten episodes to expose them.

The series follows a young scientist, Lisa (Jane Levy), who has founded a medical research company. She believes that one day she will find a cure for people with lymphocytic leukemia, like her sister, who died many years ago. Now Lisa is on the verge of bankruptcy, so the girl is desperately looking for someone who can finance her business. Such a person is, but the situation from this becomes even worse.

Lisa is approached by Ann Montgomery, one of the most ruthless venture capitalists in San Francisco. She offers the girl a deal. If she lets her husband Sean go to Ann for one night, she will receive $ 80 million. At the same time, the spouses must sign a non-disclosure agreement, and if Sean let slip about what happened behind closed doors, the company passes to Montgomery. From this moment on, a psychological game begins, which, for some unknown reason, Ann decided to start.

In parallel, the series has several more secondary lines – the story of a gay couple, as well as friends of the main characters. In each series, they develop and at some point become autonomous.

What/If showrunner Mike Kelly gained fame for his work on the American TV series Revenge (aired from 2011 to 2015), which had strong television ratings and positive reviews from critics. The success extended only to the first season, from the second to the fourth Revenge’s popularity dropped significantly. Largely due to the fact that its creators went too far with intrigues and could not stop in time.

In the new What / If project, Kelly repeats exactly the same mistake – the series famously twists the intrigue, hinting that the characters have a lot of secrets hidden. It is interesting to reveal them exactly until the moment when the plot turns into a kind of soap opera. And since this happens very quickly, disappointment comes already in the first episodes. Then it becomes a pity for the time spent. And since it cannot be returned, it is worth at least finding out what the writers were hiding from us (or not worth it, there will still be no shock effect).

Naturally, the main bet is made on Renee Zellweger – she not only appeared in the Netflix project, but also played a major role in the series for the first time in her career. Moreover, the actress has not previously reincarnated as such a negative and cold-blooded character as Anne Montgomery. This stage was significant for the artist, but not for the audience.

Renée Zellweger (who has an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress) tries so hard to portray a femme fatale that she sometimes overdoes it. Staring glances, thoughtful movements, spectacular gaits – all this turns out to be somehow strained and unnatural. Sometimes you even worry about Rene, no matter how she overdoes it with arrogant equanimity. Unfortunately, she fails in this. Against the background of Zellweger, actress Jane Levy, who plays Lisa, looks much more convincing. The same can be said about other actors of the series with less famous names.

The general idea of the series What / If resembles the movie “Indecent Proposal” (Indecent Proposal), only instead of Robert Redford, Renee Zellweger shows deceit. Even the characters in one of the episodes talk about the similarity of situations, and then everything turns out to be much more complicated than in the movie of the 90s. And longer. Enduring ten episodes isn’t easy, given that it’s filled with repetitive dialogue and family melodrama.

Of the good things about the series, one can single out completeness. The one who watched all the episodes is waiting for clues to the secrets of the main characters. What/If was called an anthology from the very beginning, so if the project gets a sequel for a second season, it will introduce completely new characters.