Fans praise Adam Brody for ‘hot rabbi’ role in Nobody Wants This: ‘Perfect romance lead’

The O.C. actor stars alongside Kristen Bell in Netflix’s new rom-com series

Fans have heaped praise on Adam Brody for his lead role in Nobody Wants This.

The Jennifer’s Body actor, 44, stars in Erin Foster’s culture-clash romcom as a progressive rabbi who has just come out of a long-term relationship and falls for a serial dater called Joanne (Kristen Bell) who overshares about her risque love life as part of the podcast she hosts with her sister.

Days after the 10-episode series landed on Netflix on Thursday (26 September), viewers have rushed to X/Twitter to demand more romantic comedy films starring Brody, claiming he has the same leading man energy as Tom Hanks in You’ve Got Mail, Hugh Grant in Notting Hill and Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally.

“So Adam Brody has that charming romcom leading man energy that’s VERY rare and I can’t believe he hasn’t done more of these,” wrote one person.

Meanwhile, another viewer added: “It’s a travesty that he hasn’t been a rom com lead for the last 15 years. We have been robbed!” they said.

“I’ve never understood why he hasn’t had a string of roles like this. He’s adorable,” a third fan added. “We need more of him on screen!”

Brody has admitted he “initially winced” at the thought of playing a rabbi in Nobody Wants This. Despite being Jewish, the 44-year-old told the LA Times, “I didn’t know the first thing about Judaism.”

Kristen Bell and Adam Brody in ‘Nobody Wants This’ (Netflix)

“I initially winced at the religiosity of it,” he said. “But I came around to being excited by that aspect and going, ‘Well, that’s the different part than me, and that’s what will be fun stuff to research and explore and commit to and play.’”

Nobody Wants This is based on Foster’s real life and the writer based Brody’s character Noah on her husband, who is the son of Jewish Russian immigrants.

“We didn’t come from similar backgrounds,” she said on the podcast she hosts with her sister Sara, The World’s First Podcast.

“He came from a much more traditional place. I came from a more unconventional place. When we got together we were like, ‘How’s this gonna work?”

Bell and Brody in ‘Nobody Wants This’ (Netflix)

In The Independent’s four-star review, Katie Rosseinsky writes that Nobody Wants This is “devastatingly relatable” and “laugh-out-loud funny”.

“This is a show with clever characterisation and a winning eagerness to embrace off-beat scenarios,” she says. “The whole thing is an enjoyable mix of romcom escapism and sometimes acerbic realism.

“Joanne and Noah are a couple you want to root for.”