Wonderfully offbeat film!

It is a performances centric movie

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

Benched is something special, IMHO. The characters are flawed but are fighting the good fight. The supporting cast is excellent and create a quirky and rich environment. I've had real laughs watching this show and that's the highest praise I can give. Thumbs up, way up!Let me add that for a show to be great, like this one is, it has to hit on all cylinders. From writing to acting to directing, this show has what it takes. If it doesn't get renewed for another season it's a TV travesty.If it were up to me I'd give this show two Golden Globes, so Nina could have a matching set.

A female lawyer (Eliza Coupe) has the standard breakdown (a mascara soaked frenzy of vitriol while the elevator is closing, but doesn't close all the way..riotous.) So she is relegated to the crude and wacky world of the public defender's office w/ a racist boss, a lascivious male co-worker, a fat intern, and the hot ex-fiancée whom she didn't know was working there. Have you seen this all before? In 3 seconds we could tell that Nina likes to drown her sorrows in the occasional bottle of Pinot Noir, that her mother fears for her singledom, that she power drinks Starbucks, and will be ruminating over the booty call she had with her ex with a half pound bag of Peanut M&Ms. This is all going to happen because it's been cranked out since Mary Tyler Moore aired.Coupe (a little too wink wink nudge nudgey) does try, I'll give her that. It's obvious she can be adept at comedy. Rest of the cast; same. There is an audible thud after most of the jokes. By and large, Cringe-worthy mediocrity.

The premise of a comedy set in the public defender's office has so much potential. Benched, however, falls flat. The characters are shallow and not at all developed. The lead character comes off as purely neurotic. She dominates every scene, while the other characters are relegated to only setting up the mostly trite jokes for her. The defendants are little more than a crew of stock clichés. The humor is lacking, and most of it is just slapstick. The story line, what of it there is,sorely lacks any substance. The plot has none of the situations that are found in good comedy, and no good sight gags. The entire pilot was nothing more than a weak woman whining that her boyfriend left her. Watching Benched is not a good use of 30 minutes of your time.

If you're into comedies about lawyers and courts you might find your new favorite show in this one.A woman lawyer loses her job after an incident in her high-powered corporate firm and ends up in public defender's office, defending cases faaaar from glamorous! So it is basically a "fish out of water" comedy. The fancy attorney goes to defend poor people in a smelly courthouse.Obviously you can expect lots of awkward moments that our heroine is getting into and this is where Eliza Coupe (as Nina the lawyer) is shining. The supporting cast is also very good and especially Fred Melamed who plays the sarcastic (but fair) judge.Overall seems like a good comedy, way better than the ridiculous "Bad Judge", so if this is your thing, check it out!