Sick Note (2017)

Everyone is nicer when you’re dying.

Daniel Glass (Rupert Grint) is a compulsive liar who spends all his time smoking weed and playing video games. His lifestyle puts him in a hole, and he desperately needs an out. On one end he’s in a dead-end job at an insurance company where the boss Kenny West (Don Johnson) terrorizes him, and on the other end his relationship is failing and his girlfriend Becca (Pippa Bennett-Warner) is about to leave him.

Things take a turn for the worse as he is diagnosed with cancer by Dr. Iain Glennis (Nick Frost), but soon learns it's a misdiagnosis. This mistake could cost Glennis his job, and Daniel doesn’t mind the perks that come with a terminal illness, so they agree to keep up the charade. His ‘sick note’ costs more than it's worth as the lie spirals out of control and the circumstances that grow out of it become more and more ridiculous. [Season 2 features Lindsay Lohan as Kathrine West!]

This dark comedy is a hit or miss, while the plot is a little predictable and rather tunnel-visioned, it is generally enjoyable enough. The humor is drawn more from the bizarre situations than the dialogues, so as the plot thickens, the show becomes more entertaining. While the edgy comedy seems forced at some points, the pacing of the show covers it up. The star-studded cast has good chemistry, which elevates the script whenever the writing becomes weak. All in all, the show is amusing enough, if not taken too seriously.

The British series spans two seasons and has 20 episodes of an average of 23 minutes, though the pilot episode is 40 minutes long. ‘Sick Note’ is available on Netflix.

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