Apple TV's Charming Late Night Rom-Com 'Still Up' Is a Love Story About Conversation

Once upon a time, the romantic comedy was all the rage in our entertainment landscape. Anyone who spent any time at their local multiplex back in the 1990s undoubtedly remembers the golden age of these sorts of stories, often led by major A-list actors like Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lopez, Hugh Grant, and more. Titles like Four Weddings and a Funeral, My Best Friend's Wedding, and Love Actually were formative films for many of us, and the fact that the genre has basically disappeared in the decades since, vanishing in favor of superhero films and other action-based blockbusters.

But thanks to gems like Starstruck, Lovestruck, and Heartstopper, the genre is currently experiencing something of a renaissance on the small screen. And though Apple TV+'s newest comedy, a friends to maybe something more insomniac romance called Still Up, is the latest series to follow a well-worn (and, long-loved) path, it does so by carving out its own unique niche.

A rom-com that's really a story about conversation, almost every episode of Still Up revolves around talking --- whether that means an accidental confession, a drunken request for directions, or a fun diversion of the "if you had to lose one body part forever what would it be" variety. It actually all makes for a nice change --- real, ongoing dialogue between characters is still an almost shockingly rare thing on television, and we're rarely allowed to see the level of vulnerability and interiority that constant conversation requires. Still Up is a talky show, but it's also a show about talking, and the things we inevitably reveal about ourselves long before we ever run out of things to say.