Big Mistakes Netflix review: Dan Levy’s new cringe comedy lands with a twist

Big Mistakes Netflix opens in full panic, with Dan Levy playing a pastor whose private life is already strained before a stolen necklace pulls him into danger. The series, created by Levy with Rachel Sennott, brings his first new sitcom since Schitt’s Creek into a louder, messier world of family pressure, secrets, and bad timing.
Set around Nicky Dardano, a nervy pastor hiding his boyfriend from both family and flock, the show moves quickly from domestic embarrassment to criminal trouble. When Nicky and his sister Morgan get tangled up in a necklace theft, Big Mistakes Netflix shifts into gangland territory and keeps the chaos moving as the siblings are forced into errands for dangerous new acquaintances.
Dan Levy returns with Big Mistakes Netflix
Levy’s return is built around familiar strengths: awkward timing, flinching vulnerability, and a talent for making embarrassment feel immediate. Big Mistakes Netflix gives him a character who is constantly bracing for the next disaster, and the show uses that tension to drive both the jokes and the story.
The family setup is central from the start. Nicky’s mother, Linda, is loud, demanding, and impossible to ignore, while Morgan and Natalie are both in their 30s but far from settled. The result is a household that feels permanently mid-crisis, which gives Big Mistakes Netflix a restless energy that never really slows down.
A necklace, a gang, and a lot of bad choices
The plot turns when Morgan shops for a replacement necklace for their grandmother and ends up stealing one that is far more valuable than it looks. That decision drags Nicky and Morgan into the orbit of a criminal ring connected to a Russian thug named Ivan, and the situation quickly escalates beyond what either sibling can manage.
Yusuf, who runs the store, later appears at Nicky’s rectory demanding the necklace back and pushing them into work for his drug-smuggling associates. The setup is simple, but the show uses it to push a fish-out-of-water comedy into more uncomfortable, high-stakes territory.
Big Mistakes Netflix leans on sharp family friction
The show’s strongest scenes come from its family dynamics and its acid-tipped jokes. One line from Linda captures the tone well: “I birthed you emotionally, which is just as painful. ” That kind of writing gives Big Mistakes Netflix its bite, even when the plot grows increasingly implausible.
Laurie Metcalf plays Linda as a force of nature, while Taylor Ortega gives Morgan a sharp comic edge. The cast also includes Abby Quinn as Natalie, Jacob Gutierrez as Nicky’s boyfriend, Jack Innanen as Morgan’s boyfriend Max, Boran Kuzum as Yusuf, and Mark Ivanir as Ivan, all feeding into a story that never lets the pressure drop.
Still, Big Mistakes Netflix is not especially interested in realism. The necklace mystery is underexplained, the criminal world is presented in broad strokes, and some developments feel stretched mainly to keep the siblings in trouble long enough for the next escalation. Even so, the final twist lands as a clear setup for another round, and that alone gives the series a last jolt of momentum.
For now, Big Mistakes Netflix looks built to keep viewers inside the panic, with the promise that the next turn will be even messier than the last. Whether that payoff comes quickly or not, Levy’s latest series has already planted itself as a frantic family comedy with a criminal edge.




