'Glamorous' PEOPLE Review: Kim Cattrall's Netflix Series Has Admirable Moments but Lacks a Comic Spark

Kim Cattrall is still missing from the new season of Max’s And Just Like That…, which premiered Thursday, but this time her character, the much-missed Samantha, is expected to turn up for the finale — a cameo, filmed on a separate set and featuring no contact with the show’s cast, in which Samantha reportedly has a phone conversation with Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw. The whole thing has been accompanied by the obsessive buzz that’s always generated by anything to do with Cattrall and Sex and the City. It’s almost a natural phenomenon, like fireflies blinking erratically at the hint of a summer storm.

But the actress also happens to have a new Netflix series, Glamorous — a comedy that lasts a full 10 episodes, but that probably won’t stop you thinking about Cattrall’s And Just Like That... appearance.

We should point out that the real star of Glamorous, its focal point, is Miss Benny in the role of Marco, a young makeup artist, nonbinary and gay. Marco is hired as an assistant to Madolyn Addison (Cattrall), a former supermodel who now runs a cosmetics company in Manhattan. 

Given real-life concerns about violence targeting Pride parades this month, a series that showcases and champions gay, trans and non-cis characters — and there seem to be many, inside and outside Madolyn’s little empire — is admirable, timely and valuable. So is the fact that the series’ narrative hinges on Marco getting the brand to embrace his fabulous sense of beauty and inclusion. 

Yet Glamorous — which began life a few years ago as an unsuccessful CW pilot starring Miss Benny and Brooke Shields in what’s now Cattrall’s part — lacks a propulsive spark. 

It doesn’t have the innocent exuberance of Heartbreakers or the daring lunacy of Hollywood, Ryan Murphy’s gay revisionist history of the movie industry. Or, for that matter, the romantic postcard chic of Emily in Paris.  Glamorous is reminiscent mostly of ABC’s Ugly Betty, but without its zesty camp. 

As for Cattrall, she plays Madolyn with a calm, beneficent, somewhat bland authority, confidently sweeping in and out of glass-walled offices. She can’t steal scenes, as you might wish she could (and as she always did on Sex), because her character hasn’t been built up to purloin anything — unless you count Madolyn’s attention-getting eye frames, which are bigger than Miranda Priestly’s head. 

At times I found myself fantasizing that the part had been recast, again, with J. Smith-Cameron’s Gerri from Succession.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Glamorous is now streaming on Netflix.