You’ve probably noticed that Netflix likes to group certain shows and movies into categories while you browse their interface. Among the most prominent in my own feed are headings like “Lazy Day Comfort Binges,” “Critically Acclaimed Witty Buddy TV Shows” and “Award Nominees” — I guess I give off lazy but prestigious vibes. (The algorithm gets me!) While browsing recently, I stumbled on a new, seasonal category that caught my eye: Messy Girl Summer.
This category features about 35 titles, all offering some take on multifaceted women. Netflix shows that appear under the category include the newish Julianne Moore-Meghann Fahy dark comedy Sirens, Ginny & Georgia, Glow and the brand new Lena Dunham-penned rom-com, Too Much, which is hovering in Netflix’s Top 10 at the moment. There are also a bunch of filme on the list, including Amy Schumer’s pregnancy comedy Kinda Pregnant, Todd Haynes’ psychological drama May December and the rom-com He’s All That.
“Messy Girl Summer” is a broad term evoking female characters who are allowed to be flawed, weird, vulnerable or secretive — and that’s a combination of traits that has worked for Netflix for years. One of the platform’s first hit shows was Orange Is The New Black, a show filled with messy women in prison. But that show has fallen off most people’s radar, and thus, it was left off this list. In fact, there are a lot of titles that aren’t on this list but probably should be. Netflix really could have blown this category out and had some fun with it. It’s OK, I’ll step in.
If I were curating Messy Girl Summer, I’d start with the show that’s the progenitor of the genre, Sex and the City. Back when appointment television was still a thing, that show was essential Sunday-night-in-the-summer viewing. (Its sequel, And Just Like That, is currently tormenting longtime fans every week over on HBO Max, but it’s just not the same.)
Also missing from Netflix’s list are the documentary Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare, about one woman’s years-long relationship with a man who didn’t exist, the kinda-weird Irish crime drama Bodkin, the Japanese series Asura about four sisters whose lives are thrown into chaos when their dad’s affair is discovered, or the Mexican erotic drama Playing With Fire. Every woman on each of these shows is a mess or is dealing with one in some way or another; they absolutely deserve to be included. Need more messy girl movies? Nothing messier than One of Them Days (friendship/rent is due mess), To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before (romantic mess), or documentaries like Con Mum sau A Deadly American Marriage (real-life mess).
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
I’m all for trendy, zeitgeisty slang (if for no other reason than to make my kids uncomfortable when I use it), so messy girl summer doesn’t bother me, but it did make me realize that when you’re labeling women, messy is an easy shorthand for the Venn overlap of “flawed” and “chaotic.” Usually, “flawed” male protagonists aren’t “chaotic” as much as they are “tortured” or “vulnerable” — instead of “messy,” they get to be “complicated.” For shows about men like that, I suggest Dept. Q, Lupin, Breaking Bad sau Bodyguard. (I guess complicated men tend to either be in law enforcement or on the run from the law.)
Honestly, you can shoehorn pretty much anything into a category if you try — we all contain multitudes and we’re all a mess somehow, right? Which is probably why we like watching shows and movies about people whose lifestyles are even more complicated and messy than our own.
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