As Mama Ru wisely observes, we’re all born naked and the rest is drag. Each one of us is projecting an image—consciously or otherwise—that influences the way the world views us. On the verge of adulthood, surrounded by other teenagers trying to find themselves at college, it is easy to become a little too self-conscious about how we want to be seen. That state becomes even more heightened if you’ve got a secret that you’re trying to cover up. You tend to overcompensate.
That is the case for Benny (creator-writer-star Benito Skinner), a former high school football hero and homecoming king who is struggling to accept that he his gay, let alone share his sexuality with anyone around him. Deep down he’s known all his life. The eight-episode series opens with a young Benny (Austin Kurtis) enraptured by a scantily-clad Brendan Fraser in George of the Jungle, rewatching the same moment on repeat on his treasured DVD until his friends tease him about it.
Cut to the present day and his arrival as a freshman at Yates, where his older sister Grace (Mary Beth Barone) is already well established as part of the college’s cool set. She clearly resents Benny cramping her style when he’s dropped off by their parents, John and Kathryn (Kyle MacLachlan and Connie Britton), who do little to hide their adoration and favoritism for Benny over the standoffish Grace. He is immediately taken under the wing of Grace’s douchebag jock boyfriend Peter (Adam DiMarco), a committed bro’s bro, who initiates Benny into college life. According to Peter, the rules dictate that Benny has to get laid on his first night, “or naaahhh”, essentially he’ll be doomed for the rest of his time at Yates. But he can’t get tied down to the first girl he hooks up with either, Peter instructs.
Benny and fellow freshman Carmen (Wally Baram) hit it off instantly and head to a senior party together, where Carmen is feeling equally pressured to have sex that night by her lovable airhead roommate Hailee (Holmes) and her gang of girlfriends. As Benny maneuvers around campus, he strives to ensure the way he walks, talks and holds himself help him to pass for his idea of what it means to be straight. He anxiously averts his gaze from the LGBTQ+ society’s stand, staffed by out and proud queer student George (Owen Thiele), but he can’t help staring at dreamboat British freshman Miles (Rish Shah). He even decides to take an extra class in film studies, despite his lack of interest in or knowledge about the subject, when he finds out that’s where Miles will be.
As Benny’s first year continues he finds himself getting stuck deeper in the closet when he’s invited to become a member of Yates’ hyper-bro elite secret society, Flesh and Gold. Meanwhile, he tentatively begins to lean into being gay (as mentored by Carmen after she’s done some Googling) by sniffing poppers, binging Drag Race, and going on a Grindr hookup wearing a leather harness (featuring hilarious cameos from queer comedy besties Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers) that proves disastrous.
My own first year at college was way back in the mid-90s and on the other side of the Atlantic, so I was surprised by how much Benny’s story (inspired by Skinner’s real-life experience) resonated and how many of the details had been almost exactly the same for me nearly thirty years ago. That is partly attributable to the deft specificity of Skinner’s writing and the nuance of his performance and, sadly, that some things have not changed all that much in this heteronormative world, especially in a college environment where there can be just as much pressure to conform and fit in as there was at high school—along with the frequent refrain of “no homo” by the boys in the case of Yates—not to mention parental expectations.
I might have been in the closet at college (though I don’t think I was convincing anyone) for at least my first year, but there were plenty of examples around me of students who weren’t, and a visible LGBTQ+ society. Likewise, Benny has George there as an example of a funny, charming and laid back queer kid living his truth and thriving, but is not quite ready to join him.
While my college soundtrack was filled with Radiohead, Pulp and Blur (OK, and some Spice Girls), Benny’s soundscape has been overseen by series executive producer and executive music producer Charli xcx, with choices that keep things fizzing wihtout being relied upon to fuel a scene. The pop star also makes her mark on the show with a funny standout performance as herself, furious that she has been booked to play a college gig. Look out for some other memorable guest star turns from Lukas Gage, Megan Fox, and Grease (and Grease 2) legend Didi Conn.
The beating heart of the show is the friendship between Benny and Carmen as they navigate college together. Some of the best moments of the series happen in the quieter, dialogue scenes between them, and the most touching scene of all is a completely wordless interaction between the two, when the bond between them has become so strong that they don’t need to say anything at all to communicate deeply. There are a couple of episodes where the two go their separate ways and it is testament to the writing and performances that we really miss spending time with them together.
Half the season’s episodes are directed by Desiree Akhavan (Appropriate Behavior, The Miseducation of Cameron Post) whose brittle humour with a warm centre perfectly complements Skinner’s sensibilities. She also has a memorable guest star turn in one episode as the uptight girlfriend of Grace’s queer best friend who she has become estranged from since getting involved with Peter. The other half of the season (including the pilot and season finale episodes) are directed by another comedy veteran, Daniel Gray Longino, who has helmed episodes of Portlandia, Lady Dynamite, and PEN15. Refreshingly, both directors allow the narrative and performances to be the focus rather than distracting us with something showy or stylized, but still keep things dynamic while allowing the scenes space to breathe when they need it. Along the way, there are a few really fun fantasy sequences as Benny falls hard for Miles, including a George of the Jungle-inspired scene.
Skinner pulls off the shifting tones from delightfully crass comedy one moment to something genuinely poignant the next. While so many high school or college comedies over the years have lacked a female perspective, here the balance is far more even with Carmen, Hailee and Grace in particular all unashamedly talking about and enjoying sex, and not simply there to be objectified by the men in their lives. This is a fun, surprisingly tender watch that deserves to be renewed for further seasons as there is plenty of potential to explore all these characters further and an excellent, engaging cast led by Skinner to bring them to life.
By James Kleinmann
All eight episodes of Overcompensating debut on Prime Video on Thursday, May 15th, 2025.
