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| You can't see what's under those bars. She can, but you can't |
House of Lies
premieres this Sunday on Showtime, and, thanks to the lovely people at Showtime
and the venerable artists of YouTube, the pilot was available for viewing ahead of time (sans Showtime’s trademark nudity). The show stars Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda, Rush Hour 2) as Marty Kaan, management consultant and family man.
His life is very of-the-moment. He consults for the 1% yet uses the 99% to aid
him in his endeavors. In the real world his life would be enviable, with a posh
apartment, sexy consorts, and sexier consorts. Except this is a Showtime show, so
he is an absolute wreck. The first few minutes of the show find him waking up
next to his druggie-ex-wife (who is so out of it that she doesn’t really
remember their previous night of boning) and then going into the kitchen to
explain to his gender-confused son and his father why ex-wifey is there at all.
Then, he flies to New York with his cracker-jack management consultant team,
which includes Veronica Mars and Jean Ralphio (Kristen Bell and Ben Schwartz)
as well as some other guy (Josh Lawson), all
the while engaging in sexy-talk with Bell’s Jeannie Van Der Hooven.
the while engaging in sexy-talk with Bell’s Jeannie Van Der Hooven.
There is a lot to like about the pilot. It’s slickly shot,
remarkably fast-paced (both in speech cadences and in overall plot), and
well-acted. Bell, in particular, is able
to overcome her character’s ridiculous name and somewhat groan-worthy dialogue
to turn in another great performance. Like Julia Louis-Dreyfus, she is made for
television – she understands the rhythms, gets the beats, and she makes
everyone around her look better. Not to be too effusive, but, as the show goes
forward, she could be its saving grace. Writers: give her more to do – dancing
sexily (and, if the promos are any indication, getting a little naked) is not
enough – she represents the best of us, lazy eyes and all.
Cheadle, as a Kaan-man (puns!) and conflicted father, does a
very good job with the material, but he seems oddly cast. As swag-tastic as
Cheadle can be (we’ve all seen Ocean’s
Eleven), it seems that perhaps his days of easily charming ladies and
making strippers love him are in the past – those moments where he’s supposed to
be effortlessly amazing instead reek of effort.
Marty Kaan is not a charming anti-hero who is great at his job; he is a
smug 40-year-old-version of Zack Morris who is trying too hard. You know the
guy:
Adding to his Zack-Morris-ness is that Kaan, for reasons
unknown, can freeze time in order to talk directly to the audience, explaining
something he has just said or done. Instead of being introduced to the world of
management consulting over time, Kaan just freezes time and explains everything. It’s one of the most
exposition-heavy pilots I’ve ever seen (including Blue Bloods). There’s no mystery whatsoever – who thought that
we’d be aching for the comparatively subtle Weeds
Season 3?
Though he lacks in the Mark-Paul Gosselaar department, Kaan’s
scenes with and about his son are well-done – Cheadle plays beleaguered father
like the best of them. It’s actually touching to see Kaan interact with and
protect his son, who is obviously having a rough go of it as he tries out for
the part of Sandy in his school’s production of Grease.
The show isn’t perfect, but there is a good show lurking in
there somewhere. The creator, Matthew Carnahan, is the creator of that other
beautiful mess Dirt, so there is
hope. All he needs to do is get rid of
the freeze frames, flesh out some of the secondary characters, and give Kristen
Bell and the rest of the ensemble more to do. Of course, maybe I’ll forget all
my griping once the nudity is added back in.
Pilot Grade: C+
Kristen Bell Grade: A
Check out House of
Lies on January 8th, 10p EST on Showtime
