Miss You, Love You
What’s it rated? TV-MA
When? 2026
Where’s it showing? HBO Max
Grieving widow Diane Patterson (Allison Janney) is forced to plan her husband’s funeral with her estranged son’s assistant, Jamie Simms (Andrew Rannells), after her globetrotting son is unwilling to return home, in writer-director Jim Rash’s (The Way Way Back, Downhill) bittersweet new dramedy.
When we meet Diana, she’s prickly. We discover that she and her late husband moved to sundrenched New Mexico from New York, which she hated to leave, so she’s stuck in a place she doesn’t like. Her son, Tyler, from a previous marriage, only communicates via text, but despite his absence, his character is central in Diane’s and Jamie’s minds.
Diane’s grief seems to give her the upper hand in the exchanges between the two characters. She can vacillate between imperious and wounded, and kudos to Janney for delivering an acting master class. For Rannells’ part, he matches Janney’s subtly complicated character by creating a man who honestly wants to help and has sympathy for this angry stranger. They’re both hurting and harboring resentments toward Tyler.
There are more than two characters, but this has the feel of an intimate play, and I read that Rash pitched it as such. It’s an insightful examination of grief and loss. (97 min.)
—Glen Starkey
This article appears in August 6 – August 13, 2026.
