Hulu's new time-travel movie is Looper for the dumbed-down streaming era

Last week, Netflix film chief Dan Lin fired back at reports that the streamer forces screenwriters to repeat major plot points to cater to a distracted audience. “There is no such principle,” Lin told the press. To be honest, I don’t believe him. Too many Hollywood insiders have stated otherwise for this to just be an unfounded rumor. There’s little doubt that Netflix is dumbing down its dialogue so viewers can follow the plot while also scrolling on Instagram, and it appears that strategy is spreading to other streamers, too. Case in point: Hulu original Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice, a movie best described as Rian Johnson’s modern sci-fi classic Looper for people who need something to look at while answering emails. (Although as I soon learned, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. More on that a little later.) Both movies feature organized crime and time-travel paradoxes, but that’s where the similarities end. Written and directed by BenDavid Grabinski, Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice offers plenty of quippy comedy and some passable action sequences, but Grabinski ultimately isn’t brave enough (or perhaps unshackled enough) to do anything interesting with what should be a strong premise.

Mar 26, 2026 → Apr 1, 2026