‘Dang!’ Review: Netflix Animated Sibling Comedy Is Enjoyably Chaotic

The basic premise of the Netflix animated comedy “Dang!” bears a passing resemblance to that of “Broad City”: two codependent millennial burnouts living and (barely) working in New York City. The difference is that this pair, Andrew (series creator Andrew Law) and Eunice (Poppy Liu), are siblings; the show’s title is also their last name, minus the interrobang. And the duo’s domestic bliss is interrupted by the arrival of a third party — their older sister Ruthie (Stephanie Hsu), an uptight lawyer whose midlife crisis brings her down to her brother and sister’s level.

Then again, the “Broad City” parallels aren’t a complete coincidence. Law and Liu both previously worked on “Hacks,” whose three co-creators all cut their teeth on Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson’s beloved stoner comedy. (Michael Schur, an executive producer on “Hacks,” serves in the same capacity on “Dang!”.) All three shows feature protagonists emblematic of downwardly mobile generational malaise, but any broader commentary takes a back seat to human relationships and, of course, jokes. Such is the case with “Dang!,” where the lived-in dynamic among the trio leads to a distinct take on the comforting familiarity of a family sitcom.

Before Ruthie shows up, the younger Dangs are at peace with their own mediocrity. Eunice crushes bread with her feet for pay pigs on OnlyFans; when Andrew gets fired from the startup he co-founded for running an anonymous gossip account from his IBS-induced bathroom breaks, he’s happy to rejoin the company in a vanity job designing merch. Ruthie thinks she’s better than they are, and treasures their immigrant parents’ approval, but also envies the closeness that’s left her feeling excluded. (When Eunice argues that Ruthie shares her own secret language with their mom and dad, the attorney points out that she just speaks Mandarin because she paid attention in Chinese school.) This status quo starts to change when Ruthie gets pregnant via extramarital affair and moves to New York to figure out her life. “You’re one of us now, you stupid pregnant bitch!” Eunice squeals, her eyes going sparkly and anime-wide.

For the middle stretch of its eight-episode season, “Dang!” puts Ruthie’s ticking time bomb of a secret (from her parents, at least) on hold to spend time on Andrew and Eunice’s aimless escapades. By the finale, Ruthie isn’t even showing yet, but we’ve watched Eunice try an experimental diet drug for her Goop-like unpaid internship and Andrew attempt to mentor a baby gay he knows from church youth group. (The fake praise song “Come Inside of Me” is pretty catchy!) Each Dang’s personality is clearly conceived and communicated through evocative detail: Ruthie’s preferred children’s book is “B Is for Border Security: How to Raise a Political Centrist”; Andrew is so people-pleasing he can barely decide on a bodega order; Eunice has a sixth sense that tells her when the uncensored video of Lenny Kravitz ripping his pants is back on YouTube. Law is playing the not-so-straight man amid the chaos, but both Liu and Hsu give vivid voice performances from opposite ends of the slacker-to-Type-A spectrum — Liu’s delivery laconic and always sounding a little stoned, Hsu’s sharp and aggressive.

Many new comedies these days suffer from a compressed run that offers little room to riff and experiment. By keeping a tight focus on its nuclear unit, “Dang!” avoids this issue with a compact concept that never feels too big for its vessel. Besides, the backdrop against which Andrew, Eunice and Ruthie conduct their misadventures is the stuff of countless shows before it; beyond just “Broad City,” there’s “Sex and the City,” “Girls” and many more that obviate the need for exposition. Animation helps “Dang!” add some pizzazz to otherwise ordinary conflicts like Eunice puzzling out whether a guy she likes has an Asian fetish; instead of talking it out over brunch á la Carrie Bradshaw, she convenes a panel of celebrity cameos like Chloe Kim and Padma Lakshmi. Yet it’s the Dangs themselves, each dysfunctional in their own special way, who serve as the real draw.

All eight episodes of “Dang!” are now streaming on Netflix.