Merv Review: A Terrible Rom-Com Riff On Parent Trap With Zooey Deschanel & Charlie Cox

While most rom-coms are all about bringing together new, and sometimes unlikely, people together for a chance at long-lasting love, there are the occasional ones in which a couple, either previously broken up or in a downward swing, try to make things work again. Whether it’s long-lost twin sisters trying to secretly set their divorced parents up for love in the various Parent Trap spins, or the wild love triangle between an ex-husband and ex-wife and her new beau in It’s Complicated, there are ways to make the formula feel fresh.

And this is where Prime Video’s Merv tries to come in. Hailing from playwright and theater director Jessica Swale and husband-and-wife writing duo Dane Clark and Linsey Stewart, the film so desperately wants viewers to root for Zooey Deschanel’s Anna and Charlie Cox’s Russ to work through what broke them up and come back together for the sake of their depressed titular dog that they essentially co-parent. But even in spite of some of its charm, the movie plays things so safe that it almost feels like an insult to viewers’ intelligence.

Merv’s Script Spells Out Everything To The Point Of Leaving No Nuance For Viewers To Reflect On

Trading in his walking stick and courtroom from Daredevil for glasses and a classroom, Cox co-leads the film as Russ Owens, a delightfully charming elementary school teacher whose whole life prior to the start of Merv revolved so much around both his dog and now-ex-girlfriend that even his students feel the aftereffects of their breakup. Deschanel, meanwhile, is an optometrist who buries any feelings she may have about her and Russ’ split, and instead devotes herself fully to her work and time with the eponymous pup, to the point of a friend secretly running a Hinge account for her.

As the bitterness over their break-up continues to linger while they co-parent, Russ and Anna become worried about Merv’s health, as he becomes increasingly lethargic. Taking him to the vet, they’re shocked to find him diagnosed with depression, to which the doctor chalks up to the change in life routine with their split, and warns of it leading to heart problems. Having also felt down since the break-up, Russ does some research and finds a Florida beachside retreat specifically for dogs and dog owners, eager to get a change of pace from the snowy Boston landscape around Christmastime.

Despite Russ’ better efforts, Merv continues to display depressed traits, until Anna crashes their getaway in the hopes of helping the dog. With a full week booked, Russ and Anna find themselves forced to spend time together again in the hopes of helping their pet, but also get the opportunity to confront some of the reasons why their relationship fell apart the first time around.

On paper, Merv could literally have gone in one of two directions. With a great script and great performers, the latter of which it certainly has, the movie could have been a sneakily sweet treat going into the holiday season for those who love rom-coms this time of year. The other, which the movie unfortunately finds itself often taking a detour toward, is a Hallmark-level title that has no faith in its viewers’ intelligence.

For the opening third of the film, in which we’re introduced to the bickering Anna and Russ and their so-called “support circle,” Clark and Stewart spell everything out so bluntly to the point of giving viewers a concussion. The lead characters are told by quite literally everyone around them who they are and how they’re feeling that it never feels like Cox or Deschanel get the chance to establish a personality of their own, nor let the audience have an organic entry point to the dysfunctional hijinks to come later on.

Even worse is the fact that there’s very rarely a point in the film in which Deschanel’s Anna is not essentially painted as the movie’s villain. Her somewhat controlling approach to caring for Merv is an appropriately annoying trait to watch, while her lack of outward dismay over her break-up with Russ leaves viewers with little early sympathetic moments.

This becomes further felt around the movie’s midpoint, in which both Russ and Anna are presented with potential new romantic interests apart from one another. As expected from a rom-com revolving around a broken-up duo with lingering feelings for one another, this leads to moments of jealousy and not-so-subtle sabotaging of their efforts to flirt with the new characters. But while this seemingly ends with the pair learning to care about each other more, Merv instead sees Anna’s potential new partner written out entirely while Russ’ remains, feeling like a somewhat toxic siding with Cox over Deschanel.

This imbalanced writing is all the more apparent when the pair finally have some appropriately deep conversations about the nature of their break-up. Without diving into spoilers, it’s a reveal saved for near the film’s climax, and one that actually could have made for an emotionally incisive look at both of the characters’ overall outlook on relationships and what they want from each other, and make Anna’s happiness a little easier to root for.

And yet, the writing again seems to favor Cox over Deschanel in these moments. The New Girl alum is allowed to get some heartfelt dialogue as she tries to defend her side of the break-up, and the nicely-present Cox plays off these conversations well, but his character so quickly flips a switch from wanting to be supportive to being accusatory that it again feels like Anna is to blame for everything.

But this certainly is of no fault of Deschanel or Cox. Across Merv‘s 105-minute runtime — another problem entirely, as the movie often feels like it slows to a dreadful crawl — the pair are clearly doing their best to elevate the material beyond its bluntly boring nature, and they do look to have had fun in parts. But even they feel so constrained by how overly saccharine the movie wants to be with its romantic core that it never feels like either gets the chance to evolve on screen.

Ultimately, Merv may still resonate well for those who have enjoyed the likes of Lindsay Lohan’s recent Netflix holiday rom-coms and Hallmark’s neverending output in the genre. It hits the familiar beats that many find comforting, it has an undeniably adoring dog front and center for much of its runtime, and has a well-meaning enough outcome to its plot. But for those looking for something that doesn’t quite literally skate the surface of its premise and characters, this is definitely not the film for you.

Merv begins streaming on Prime Video on December 10.

Release Date

December 10, 2025

Runtime

105

Director

Jessica Swale

Writers

Dane Clark, Linsey Stewart

Producers

Matthew Baer, Roma Downey

Pros & Cons

• The eponymous dog is appropriately adorable and has a few charming moments.
• Zooey Deschanel and Charlie Cox are clearly having a blast with one another.

• The script is so on the nose that there’s no room for subtlety or subtext.
• The attempts at humor are woefully unfunny.
• Deschanel’s Anna never feels like she gets any kind of agency with the men in her life.