cfriverdog's reviews

This half hour comedy pilot is excellent. It's intelligent and -- at times -- brilliantly acted and written. Quirky and adult. Not for prudes.

The show explores the tragicomic dynamics of a sort of family that's never seen on prime time, broadcast media. I applaud Amazon for providing a real alternative to the bland diet of most media. The consistently excellent Jeffry Tambor heads a marvelous cast that includes indie writer-director Jay Duplass and Gaby Hoffman. The narrative arcs in the pilot are full of surprises and the show has one of e best last lines one could ask for. Please pick this on up, Amazon, it would be a mitzvah!

One of the all-time worst movies I've ever seen. One line will give you an idea of how cringe-inducing the writing is: "Pray to the cruel god Buddha..." The writing exhibits an almost willful stupidity about Eastern religions, showing statues of Hindu deities in what is supposed to be a Buddhist monastery of some kind, in Bodh-Gaya, the birthplace of the Buddha. Buddha is constantly referred to as a "god" by Indians who are clearly Hindu. Then there's the rest of the script which is completely contrived and barely coherent. Characters are constantly being thrown around by the writer and director. The actors look like they wish they were in a different film, wondering what ever possessed them to take *this* job. I was surprised to see that this mess was actually based on a novel by A.B. Yehoshua, a highly respected modern Israeli author. I'm curious to see how different it is from the film.