HBO debuted this Larry David-starring TV movie on Saturday night in hopes of placating Curb Your Enthusiasm fans who have been waiting two years for another season (if there will even be another one). I can’t say it’s an entirely successful substitute although I really love the idea of David branching out into different plots and directions.
It revolves around David’s marketing executive having a disagreement with his boss (Jon Hamm) over the name of an electric car they’re both heavily invested in———–Hamm’s smug executive is a huge Ayn Rand fan and names his son and the car Howard after The Fountainhead’s lead character———and David selling his shares in the company right before the car really hits it big and could have made him an overnight billionaire.
Years later, David (sure, his character’s name is Nathan Flomm, but he’s basically Larry David) is a national punchline who’s since disappeared, virtually broke, his trophy wife has left him, and he’s taking care of an old lady on Martha’s Vineyard while trying to make the most out of life with his best friend (the always-welcome Danny McBride) and various other locals (who include J.B. Smoove, Bill Hader, Amy Ryan, Eva Mendes, and a terrific Michael Keaton). That is, until Hamm’s executive and his beautiful wife (Kate Hudson) show up on the Vineyard.
To say more about what happens would be to spoil things, and before long the movie settles into a nice, subversive rhythm. The more it goes along, the more it keeps confounding your expectations, eventually turning into a wilder experience than you were expecting.
David re-establishes his knack for curveball misanthropy but a quick scene involving a shady encounter with an Eastern European thug (Liev Schrieber) makes me think that his next project should be an entire film where David has to navigate the criminal underworld. His ramblings about the price of a detonator or proper deal-in-a-parking-lot etiquette would be priceless in a movie where he plays some kind of private detective. Grade for Clear History: B+