DTF St. Louis Review: Jason Bateman and David Harbour Deliver HBO’s Smartest Dark Comedy Yet
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Reel Perspectives
March 3, 2026
Jason Bateman and David Harbour star in HBO's latest comedy, and we're sold! DTF St. Louis is a dark comedy that is hilariously funny and proves that, after all these years, Bateman is still at the top of his game.
The new limited series premiered on March 1 and will be available to stream on HBO Max. New episodes will drop weekly through the series finale on Sunday, April 12, the same day season three of Euphoria premieres (just a little longer, Euphoria fans!)
There's a fine line between funny and disturbing. Between laughing at a situation and realizing you probably shouldn't be laughing at all. And no one walks that line better than Jason Bateman.
For decades, Bateman has mastered a very specific brand of humor: dry, restrained, emotionally detached, and often dropped directly into chaos. While other actors perform dark comedy, Bateman practically underplays it into existence. His genius lies in making the outrageous feel mundane and the mundane feel faintly tragic. In DTF (Down to F*ck) St Louis, he excels as three middle-aged individuals stuck in suburbia, are entangled in a love triangle leading to one's untimely demise.
Written and directed by showrunner Steven Conrad (The Pursuit of Happyness), the series follows weatherman Clark Forrest (Jason Bateman) and his friendship with ASL translator Floyd Smernitch (David Harbour). They join the titular dating app, which allows married people to "spice up" their lives. Things take a dark turn when Floyd ends up dead, and Detectives Donoghue Homer (Richard Jenkins) and Jodie Plumb (Joy Sunday) investigate the whodunit with Floyd's wife, Carol (Linda Cardellini), and a slew of other colorful characters played by Arlan Ruf, Peter Sarsgaard, and Chris Perfetti enter the mix.
Harbor is just as effective and plays fantastically off of Bateman. The series finds humor in the most human awkward places while balancing absurdity with emotional truth. The murder mystery twist keeps the comedy fresh, and the performances sell every shade of dark humor. The result is DTF St. Louis is one of the smartest and most daring dark comedies on television right now.
Watch the trailer below:
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