The Biggest Problem Netflix Viewers Have With Sweet Magnolias

Netflix offers lots of comforting series that delight fans with a sweet atmosphere and equally sweet characters. These stories are meant to be soothing and uplifting, but the impression is sometimes spoiled by the poorly acting cast — or the producers who make them dramatize.

A typical example is the adaptation of Sherryl Woods' book series, Sweet Magnolias. The story focuses on three longtime friends living in the quiet South Carolina town of Serenity — Maddie, Dana Sue, and Helen — who support each other as they navigate their careers, families, and love lives.

The plot itself is not bad, but many viewers have noticed that, since the show premiered in 2020, watching it has become a sort of a guilty pleasure for them. And the main reason for that is the cast's acting.

'Noreen especially, I can't watch her scenes, her acting is just so still and stale,' one of the fans noted. A lot of people didn't like how much her lines, as well as Jamie Lynn Spears' acting itself, made any conversation with the other characters flat and meaningless.

Perhaps this opinion is biased, considering that Noreen dated Maddie's ex-husband? She eventually left the man, realizing his feelings for his ex-wife and children were stronger — but she broke Maddie's heart!

But no, the problem seems to go beyond Spears and her character, as the criticism applies also to the other actors, including Chris Klein, who plays Maddie's ex Bill.

'I don't know if Chris Klein's accent is real or fake, but as someone who lives in the south, I can say that it is terrible, lol,' a fan commented. Klein was born in Illinois and seems to have great difficulty with a Southern accent, so much so that audiences simply cannot watch him act.

The criticism also hit the main cast, including Brooke Elliott, playing Dana Sue, and Heather Headley, who portrays Helen. But many felt it wasn't the actors themselves, but the way the producers tried to get them to behave on screen.

'I don't think the acting is bad but it does feel like it was a deliberate artistic choice by the showrunner to have some of the characters be a little too melodramatic, almost straddling the fine line of becoming a caricature,' another fan added.

Sweet Magnolias Season 3 was written last year, so it won't be affected by the WGA strike. The release date hasn't been announced, but it's expected to premiere this year.

Source: Reddit.