Margo's Got Money Troubles Review: Elle Fanning Stars in a Non-Sexualized Show About Sex Work

Elle Fanning spends a lot of Margo's Got Money Troubles' eight episodes in some state of undress. She lies in bed in her underwear sighing in discomfort while pregnant, accidentally squirts breast milk in her eye while attempting to get her infant son to latch, takes unflatteringly low light topless pictures of herself. Even after she begins making money as an OnlyFans creator, she does it her way, with an approach that feels whimsical: writing the word "BOOBS" in marker on her boobs and charging a fee for people to see the "cryptic message"; turning herself into a scantily clad green-skinned alien character as an avenue to express her creativity while simultaneously promoting her "spicy" content. It's as much a testament to Fanning's unselfconscious performance as it is to thoughtful writing. And maybe it shouldn't feel so novel for a show with a sex worker as its title character to treat nudity with such unsexy frankness, but it's that novel quality that makes Margo's Got Money Troubles such a compelling watch. 

The ever-prolific David E. Kelley is at the helm of this limited series, which adapts Rufi Thorpe's book of the same name. Fanning stars as the titular Margo, a 20-year-old college student whose talent for writing (as well as her legs) attracts the attention of her married professor, Mark (Michael Angarano). The two fall into an affair that leaves Margo pregnant, and despite his quick assumption that she'll have an abortion, as well as her mother Shyanne's (an on-fire Michelle Pfeiffer) disapproval, and the fact that she lives in an apartment with three roommates (two of whom who refuse to keep quiet about their disapproval), she decides to keep the baby. An unemployed college dropout with a newborn son, whom she names Bodhi, Margo does indeed have money troubles, and her financial desperation leads her to OnlyFans, where she begins to gradually find success under the alias of "Hungry Ghost."

How many stories that are theoretically meant to examine female sexuality actually end up as exploitative trauma porn? Margo wisely sidesteps centering romance, nor does it ever become a falsely empowering show about a woman reclaiming her sexuality. At every turn, it remains a story about a normal person working to provide for her child. That frank attitude isn't always shared by the characters, which grants the show a lived-in authenticity. Take Margo, who's refreshingly unashamed of how she makes money but still has her own internalized biases to work through: At several points, she's quick to insist that she doesn't do porn, on some level still seeking to separate herself from other members of a community she's very much ingratiated herself in. 

8.5

Margo's Got Money Troubles

at Apple TV

Like

• Sensitive yet unsentimental portrayals of sex work and addiction
• Complicated characters
• The trio of leads are phenomenal

Dislike

• The supporting characters aren't given much to do

The series takes its sensitive yet unsentimental approach a step further by holding the stigmas surrounding sex work up next to the stigmas surrounding addiction. Margo's estranged father, Jinx (the show's stealth MVP Nick Offerman, at his absolute best), is an ex-wrestler who, when the series begins, has recently been released from rehab to treat his opioid addiction. Jinx immediately takes to his role as grandfather, and he moves in with Margo to help with childcare. It rankles Shyanne, who can't go near Bodhi without the baby bursting into distressed tears and doesn't entirely trust Jinx around either her grandson or Margo. While Jinx is on a healing journey full of meditation and self-acceptance, even he can't find it within himself to be immediately supportive when Margo is eventually forced to tell him how she makes a living. These are thorny issues, and everyone's perspective feels lived in. Jinx comes around quickly, but the show doesn't make these characters blindly encouraging of each other; it pokes around inside the uncomfortable judgments people hold, even — maybe especially — toward their own family. As a result, the main characters feel extremely alive. Even Mark, a very specific type of guy Margo holds no delusions about, veers off from becoming a cartoonishly evil deadbeat; he's just a coward with a rich mother (played by Marcia Gay Harden, no less) who's always been willing to bail him out of anything. Everybody has nuance, Margo repeatedly reminds us.

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As with most shows, there are things to complain about. Nice as it always is to see Nicole Kidman, one of our most dynamic actors, she's given very little to work with here, and her character — an old wrestling friend of Jinx's who later becomes Margo's attorney — just feels sort of randomly sprinkled in. (You get the sense she was doing a favor for Kelley, whom she's collaborated with on many other TV shows about women going through it.) The dynamic approach to Margo, Jinx, and Shyanne doesn't extend to Margo's cosplaying roommate and only real friend, Susie (Thaddea Graham), or KC (Rico Nasty) and Rose (Lindsey Normington), a pair of OnlyFans creators Margo collaborates with. None of them ever really become characters of their own merit, existing mainly to help Margo through her many obstacles.

Even considering those faults, the series is a technicolor charmer from start to finish. It's an often funny, very good looking show with a trio of leads who make every moment look effortless. Fanning, Pfeiffer, and Offerman are excellent individually and phenomenal as a fractured family unit, especially in a standout episode set during the weekend of Shyanne's wedding to her pastor boyfriend, Kenny (Greg Kinnear). Just as Margo strives to stand out on an oversaturated platform, Margo's Got Money Troubles sets itself apart in the incredibly oversaturated streaming landscape by being totally, completely, honestly itself.

Premieres: Wednesday, April 15 on Apple TV
Who's in it: Elle Fanning, Michelle Pfeiffer, Nick Offerman, Greg Kinnear, Thaddea Graham, Nicole Kidman
Who's behind it: David E. Kelley (creator)
For fans of: Women!
How many episodes we watched: 8 of 8