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Kristen Wiig’s 1960s-Set ‘Palm Royale’ Is Unserious in All the Best Ways: TV Review

Set in 1969, Kristen Wiig stars as Maxine Simmons, a woman determined to carve out a place for herself in Palm Beach's high society.

Vying for Norma’s crown is Evelyn Rollins (an unhinged, thrilling Allison Janney), who is just waiting for her filthy rich husband, Skeet (Bruce Dern), to die. A pageant queen from Tennessee with a simple-minded pilot husband, Douglas (Josh Lucas), Maxine has mastered the art of white womanhood, using misogyny and the patriarchy for her own gains. This pastel-infused satire is full of absurd charity events, pill parties and closets bursting with skeletons that sometimes are made public in the town’s gossip rag, “The Shiny Sheet.” From pawn shops and bounced checks to a near-continuous cycle of President Nixon discussing the Vietnam War on televisions playing in the background, “Palm Royale” is ridiculous fun.

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