‘The Four Seasons’ series review: Food, friends and Vivaldi

‘The Four Seasons’ series review: Tina Fey’s celebration of friendship over four seasons is warm, witty and wise

After watching Matthias Schweighöfer’s Army of Thieves and obsessively listening to Wagner’s Ring cycle operas (Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse also contributed to a fascination with the German composer), The Four Seasonshas prompted a passion for Vivaldi’s violin concerti celebrating spring, summer, autumn and winter.

Based on the eponymous 1981 movie, The Four Seasons, which Tina Fey adapted with Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield, while not laugh-out-loud funny all the time, has enough going for it to elicit warm smiles as we recognise ourselves or friends in the couples on screen.

Three couples — Kate (Fey) and Jack (Will Forte), Claude (Marco Calvani) and Danny (Colman Domingo), and Anne (Kerri Kenney-Silver) and Nick (Steve Carell) — go on vacation four times a year. In spring, they go to Nick and Anne’s lakeside cottage to celebrate the couple’s 25th wedding anniversary, only to learn to their horror that while Anne has planned a surprise party to renew their vows, Nick wants to end the marriage as he is not happy with Anne anymore.“We are like co-workers in a nuclear facility,” Nick explains to Danny.

Once Nick and Anne have separated, Nick brings his much younger girlfriend, Ginny (Erika Henningsen), to the vacations, upsetting the group dynamic. The others are not willing to give Ginny a chance, out of a sense of loyalty to Anne. Ginny also does not do herself many favours, choosing a decidedly uncomfortable “eco-friendly” resort for the group’s summer vacation.

Ginny acts much younger than her 32 years, more like she and her friends are 20-something flower children, but never mind. Awkwardness abounds during autumn break when both Anne and Ginny land up for a family weekend at Anne and Nick’s daughter Lila’s (Julia Lester) school. Kate and Jack’s daughter, Beth (Ashlyn Maddox), also goes there. Things take a turn for the worse during Lila’s play which reveals exactly what she thinks of Ginny and her father.

Winter sees Nick celebrating New Year’s Eve with Ginny’s friends, who are mostly sober and vegan, while Anne joins the group with Terry (Toby Huss), whom she is dating.

Through the seasonal vacations, the friends and couples get into fights, apologise and are there for each other. Even the fact that the jokes do not come thick and fast is reassuring, as not everyone can be “on” all the time and makes Danny telling Kate “why is your face so loud” that much more funny.