Bridge and Tunnel

Many years ago I watched a movie by Edward Burns called "Sidewalks of New York" - and I absolutely hated it. I thought it was total trash. Art imitating much better art by much better directors.

The other day, the above movie popped into my head, and I googled the director... As it turns out, Edward Burns has just made a TV show! Why would I watch it when I hated his movie so much all those years ago? Honestly, I have no idea.

Cut to now. I've just watched the first episode. Lo and behold; it was heaps of fun. Despite some scathing reviews and a very low score of Rotten Tomatoes, I thought it was an enjoyable, nostalgic 30 min romp through fork-in-the-road troubles of youth.

The beer flows, the cast are young and unrealistically sexy, F-bombs are dropped every 5 seconds, and there's plenty of angsty pathos woven into the story. It reminds me a little of the Tv show "Togetherness" - sort of a Woody Allen-ish cast of characters directed with a mumblecore sensibility.

It won't be everyone's cup of tea. But for me, I say turn off your brain and enjoy the ride. It's a lot of fun (so far at least).

** Update ** Four episodes in and I'm still enjoying it... but I do acknowledge the one-track story is starting to drag a little, and a few clunky scenes (particularly with the parents going on dates) bring this one down to a 7/10. Still a lot of fun though.

*After watching more, I may come back and update this review.

I'm a fan of Edward Burns and really loved The Brothers McMullen and She's the One. Unfortunately, the first episode of Bridge and Tunnel comes across as stale and uninteresting. The writing is okay but the performances by the cast are forced, plastic and often overacted. The characters don't feel authentic. Hopefully, the problems in the first episode will be ironed out in the coming episodes and the actors can find a way to become more natural in their respective roles. I'll give the show a chance because of Burns but I'm not too optimistic at this point.

I'm very surprised at this product considering Ed Burns is in it, producing it, directing it... I can tell the actors are probably great... But the writing is so bad. Incredibly cheesy and nonsensical a lot of the time. Unless they meant for this to be a teeny bopper show, it needs more depth and certainly better writing. I really wanted to like this show because it's my era, and I'm loving the clothes and the music, but that's about it.

Seriously NOTHING happens.

Two seasons and NOTHING happens.

There's no driving factor, no compelling story, no overall plot. NO POINT. It's just a "day in the life" of rather ordinary people each and every episode. Characters are shallow and uninteresting.. often VERY cliché.

It is NOT a comedy... I've never even grinned at anything presented in this series.... much less chuckled or laughed.

It's as if they made a series about you in high school - even though these characters are supposed to be college-age, it SURE seems like high school ... except it's far, far, far, less interesting because you aren't involved.

A series about snails migrating to the other side of the garden would be more compelling.

Here's a tip Mr Burns... have a PLOT... a POINT... a PURPOSE...

How this got picked up, or even greenlit in the first place, is a mystery to me. I can only assume it was because of Mr. Burns' name being attached. If it were from some unknown writer.. it would have NEVER seen the light of day.

Show started out slow in Episode 1, but like a college graduate living at home, there's always room for growth. Good to see Ed Burns behind and in-front of the camera again. Great music, as well. Pure nostalgia.