Idris Elba mixes DJ, nanny gigs in Turn Up Charlie trailer

February 28th 2019, 11:00am

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Idris Elba has made a career of doing mostly serious, dramatic projects like LUTHER and BEASTS OF NO NATION, fitting in an action movie or two in the THOR series and HOBBS & SHAW. With the new comedy TURN UP CHARLIE, the actor is getting to stretch his comedy muscles in a new EDM-centric series from Netflix, in which he plays a DJ with big dreams but must settle for being a nanny for his best friend’s trouble-making child. If you were dreaming for a wacky comedy that balances EDM club scenes and humorous scenarios between a middle-aged DJ and a mischievous child, then congrats, because your life now has meaning.

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This is certainly a departure for Elba, and this show (which he co-created), though looking more thoughtful and hilariously vulgar, can’t help but remind me of movies like THE PACIFIER with Vin Diesel, THE GAME PLAN with Dwayne Johnson and MR. NANNY with Hulk Hogan. Okay, so this does look much better than how those movies turned out, and the series format will allow for more exploration of the scenario and explore humor and heart in more meaningful ways. So, it does look odd and overly silly, but it could also be unexpectedly funny and endearing, so yeah, this will be an interesting one to explore when it arrives.

Here’s the synopsis:

Turn Up Charlie centers on the titular Charlie (Idris Elba), a struggling DJ and eternal bachelor, who is given a final chance at success when he reluctantly becomes a ‘manny’ to his famous best friend’s problem-child daughter, Gabby (Frankie Hervey). Piper Perabo and JJ Feild co-star.

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Also starring Piper Perabo, JJ Field, and Frankie Hervey and hits Netflix March 15.