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With no big stars, no flashy elevator pitch, and no provocative title, A Safe Distance might well get overlooked at its world premiere out of the 2026 SXSW film festival. And that would be the world's loss. Written by Aidan West, A Safe Distance is a lean and scintillating thriller that wears its influences — the works of Patricia Highsmith — on its sleeve without apology. The feature directorial
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Apple TV and A24's Margo's Got Money Troubles begins with a bang, thanks to a fanciful, pinball-themed opening sequence that careens through a handmade world of books, overdue bills, and baby supplies.
Our guide through it all is a green alien woman rolling atop a small silver ball. She takes the punches of the pinball machine as they come, bouncing off platforms and falling down holes before emerging, triumphant, from her bedazzled spaceship. It's a sweet, richly textured sequence, and with the accompanying use of Robyn's "Blow My Mind," it promises the show to follow will blow our minds, too.
If only the rest of Margo's Got Money Troubles could live up to that promise.
The series itself, created by David E. Kelley (Ally McBeal) and led by Elle Fanning, is a heartwarming tale of an unconventional family unit coming together despite the odds. Yet it mostly lacks the imagination of both its title sequence and its central character, becoming a paint-by-numbers dramedy elevated by a great cast.
Based on the novel of the same name by Rufi Thorpe, Margo's Got Money Troubles introduces its titular character (Fanning) at a crossroads in her life. She's a college freshman with a promising writing talent. She's also pregnant, the result of an affair with her scummy, married literature professor, Mark (Michael Angarano). Against the wishes of both Mark and her mother Shyanne (Michelle Pfeiffer), she chooses to keep the baby, dropping out of school to raise him.
Raising baby Bodhi will take money that Margo does not have, and Margo's Got Money Troubles immediately sinks viewers into her stress spiral. To earn money for Bodhi, she needs a job. To work a full-time job, she needs to pay for childcare. To pay for childcare, she needs to earn money, and on and on it goes. It's a nightmarish cycle that the series renders in claustrophobic detail. When Margo shows up to a job interview with Bodhi in tow, you can feel the interviewer's cloying judgment shutting down any path forward. When Margo rings up her groceries, each beep of the scanner is a mini heart attack. And when two of Margo's roommates move out because they can't deal with living with a newborn, the added rent feels like a death sentence.
With her finances crumbling and no job opportunities in sight, Margo decides to make content on OnlyFans. What initially begins as a means to an end soon becomes a creative outlet, allowing her to flex her writing skills and earn enough money to take care of Bodhi.
For her initial OnlyFans gimmick, Margo offers to tell her fans which Pokémon their penis resembles, and what their attacks would be. This results in several delightfully silly lines lifted straight from Thorpe's novel ("Your penis is a Tentacruel!"), delivered with gusto by Fanning. Later, as Margo tries to expand her empire, she draws on her father Jinx's (Nick Offerman) background as a pro wrestler and her roommate Susie's (Thaddea Graham) passion for cosplay. With their help, she builds an alien persona who regularly collaborates with fellow OnlyFans performers KC (Rico Nasty) and Rose (Lindsey Normington). The trio shoot elaborate wrestling matches, dance sequences, and even a mesmerizing short film involving alien Margo — resplendent in green body paint and a metallic silver dress — looming over a small model movie theater.
Just like the opening credits, these sequences are pure, imaginative fun, made all the more endearing by the characters' intense commitment. They're also proof of something Margo's Got Money Troubles told us from the start: that Margo, as an only child, needed to "develop a complex inner world." With each Pokémon penis comparison or alien short film, Margo's Got Money Troubles externalizes that inner world and gives her a clear point of view. I would have loved to see more of it — more of where her ideas come from, more of her creative process, more of why this alien storyline is what she wants to present to the world.
Instead, Margo's Got Money Troubles spends the bulk of its time on a plot that feels cobbled together from things we've seen before: teacher-student affairs, estranged parents reconnecting with their children, custody battles. When Margo tells her parents she's been doing sex work, you're all too aware of the judgment that will follow, just as you're all too aware that warm reconciliation will come next. It's pleasant to watch, but it rarely dives back into Margo's head in the way that her content creation scenes do.
Thorpe's novel alternates between first and third person, so maybe those varying degrees of distance are intentional. Yet Thorpe's novel also has a wry, observational style throughout that's as cutting and funny as it is heartwarming. Often, it feels like Margo's Got Money Troubles sacrifices the former for the latter.
Even when Margo's Got Money Troubles skews towards the formulaic, its cast keeps you locked in on its messy, complicated family. Fanning shines as Margo. From embodying Margo's alien persona to fighting tooth and nail for Bodhi's future, Fanning is tender, fierce, and funny, continuing her banner run of projects including 2025's Sentimental Value and Predator: Badlands.
Within mere seconds of screen time together, Fanning and Pfeiffer establish a raw, lived-in mother-daughter dynamic full of unspoken judgment and unconditional support. In Pfeiffer's hands, Shyanne's nickname of "Noodle" for Margo can either make you laugh or break you at a moment's notice. Elsewhere, Offerman brings warm, protective Papa Bear energy to Jinx as he tries to connect with Margo and remain in recovery after a stint in rehab. His former wrestling persona adds an extra layer of fun to the show, whether we're watching him dance around in the ring or lay Bodhi down while stage-whispering, "Slo-mo bodyslam!"
There's no denying that Margo's Got Money Troubles and this stellar cast will melt your heart. Yet overall, I just wish that the series could have been just as fearless and imaginative as Margo herself.
Margo's Got Money Troubles had its world premiere at SXSW. It premieres April 15 on Apple TV.
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