The Studio Episode 3 Review: I Was Blown Away By Ron Howard & Anthony Mackie As The Studio's Unexpectedly Pitch-Perfect Comedy Duo
Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Studio episode 3.
The Studio’s third episode features more hilarious guest performances, more nail-biting cringe humor, and more pitch-perfect Hollywood satire. In episode 3, “The Note,” Matt and his team screen a new Ron Howard action thriller, Alphabet City, which is a near-flawless neo-noir masterpiece right up until a painfully slow, esoteric, self-indulgent 45-minute sequence set at a motel. As Howard arrives for a marketing meeting, Matt has to build up the courage to tell a legendary, kind-hearted filmmaker to cut his favorite scene from his latest movie.
With Howard’s spectacular turn in “The Note,” The Studio is now two for two with its A-list director cameos. The show plays brilliantly on the public perception of great filmmakers. In The Studio’s first episode, Martin Scorsese’s reputation for having unwavering artistic integrity was hilariously juxtaposed with Matt’s mandate to make a Kool-Aid movie. In this episode, Howard’s reputation as the nicest guy in Hollywood is hilariously juxtaposed with the need to let him down with some bad news. A former sitcom staple, Howard has the spot-on comic timing to pull off both his early obliviousness and his later fury.
Ron Howard & Anthony Mackie Both Give Great Guest Performances In The Studio Episode 3
Plus, Chase Sui Wonders Finally Gets A Chance To Shine
So far, it’s felt like Chase Sui Wonders has been underutilized as creative executive Quinn Hackett, but she gets a chance to shine in “The Note.” When Matt, Sal, and Maya are all hesitant to give Howard the note, Quinn boldly offers to march down there and insult his movie to his face. But when she gets there and sees that the film’s star — her favorite actor, Anthony Mackie — has also come along for the meeting, she gets starstruck and freezes up. Wonders nails this scene, perfectly capturing Quinn’s wide-eyed infatuation with Mackie, and Mackie nails his discomfort opposite her.
The Studio is streaming new episodes on Apple TV+ on Wednesdays.
Ike Barinholtz gets a great opportunity to shine, too, when Matt learns the motel sequence is based on Howard’s grief over his dead cousin, and he tasks Sal with pretending to have a dead cousin to convince Howard to cut the scene. It’s an excruciating sight to see Howard grappling with real grief while Sal unconvincingly pretends to share his pain, and Barinholtz leans hysterically into the cringe. Howard and Mackie make for a surprisingly great comic duo, sharing terrific chemistry as onscreen creative partners, and it’s a hilarious twist when Mackie reveals he hates the motel sequence, too.
The Studio Is One Of The Most Visually Interesting Sitcoms On TV
The Series Is Delightfully Meta In Its Filmmaking
Visually, there’s nothing in “The Note” that’s quite as impressive as last week’s episode-long oner, but The Studio is still much more creative with its cinematography than the average TV comedy. While Matt and Patty are chatting on the lot, some crew members are testing a snow machine in the background. The fake snowfall adds another visual layer to a typical walk-and-talk sequence. Snowflakes falling in sun-drenched Los Angeles with the Hollywood sign out of focus in the distant background underscores the magic of moviemaking, which is essentially the point of the whole series.
Visually, there’s nothing in “The Note” that’s quite as impressive as last week’s episode-long oner, but The Studio is still much more creative with its cinematography than the average TV comedy.
In its third episode, The Studio continues to get beautifully meta with its own filmmaking. Last week, the show had an episode about shooting a meticulous oner as a meticulous oner in and of itself. In “The Note,” after the whole episode is spent discussing how boring and unnecessary the infamous “motel sequence” is, it ends with Matt wandering around the studio lot in a shot-for-shot recreation of that sequence.
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“The Note” isn’t quite as tight as the previous two episodes, and its focus on just one story thread means it’s not as complexly plotted as The Studio’s previous installments, either. The conflict resolves a little too easily — shortly after a brief blowup, Matt and Ron bury the hatchet over a quick phone call — and there isn’t one last punch like Charlize Theron kicking Matt out of her party or Matt’s car blocking the best take of the oner. Still, it’s a hilarious half-hour of television. This cast works great together, and Howard and Mackie each bring plenty of laughs.
The Studio is a comedy-drama film set in the high-stakes world of Continental Studios. It follows a newly appointed studio head and his executive team as they navigate corporate demands and creative challenges, aiming to maintain relevance in the movie industry. Released on March 25, 2025.
- Network
- Apple TV+
- Cast
- Catherine O'Hara, Seth Rogen, Dewayne Perkins, Ike Barinholtz, Kathryn Hahn, Chase Sui Wonders, Bryan Cranston, Martin Scorsese, Charlize Theron, Keyla Monterroso Mejia, Ron Howard, Peter Berg, Steve Buscemi, Paul Dano, David Krumholtz, Nicholas Stoller, Donald Murphy, Yuli Zorrilla, Renae Anderson, Thomas Barbusca, Greta Lee, Sarah Polley, Bonnie Soper, Billy Budinich, Dan Sachoff
- Ron Howard and Anthony Mackie both give hilarious guest performances
- "The Note" brilliantly subverts Howard's reputation as the nicest guy in Hollywood
- The episode's main conflict is resolved a bit too easily
