Avenue 5 Premiere Review HBO Takes Armando Iannucci’s Brutal Satire Into Space

Avenue 5 Premiere Review: HBO Takes Armando Iannucci’s Brutal Satire Into Space

HBO and Veep creator Armando Iannucci head into space for a darkly funny comedy about capitalism, consumerism, and pending disaster.

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Avenue 5 Premiere Review HBO Takes Armando Iannucci’s Brutal Satire Into Space

HBO’s new sci-fi comedy Avenue 5 isn’t Veep, though it will be relentlessly compared to the perennial Emmy winning comedy and satire of the American political system due to both shows having been created by Armando Iannucci. Such a comparison might seem as though the foul-mouthed, space-faring satire has set a course for failure, but once the surprisingly dark and brutal satire moves past its frankly overstuffed and rather clumsy pilot episode, it demonstrates quite a lot of promise — mainly by being as not Veep-like as possible.

That Iannucci has made a move from the halls and offices of those wrapped up in a bitter and broken political system to a luxury cruise liner’s disastrous voyage around the solar system is something of an announcement. The thought seemingly being: You can only poke fun at the inadequacies of the government for so long before the actual inadequacies of government outstrip the satire. That was certainly the case with the final few seasons of Veep that noticeably altered their tonality and temperament once Iannucci departed the series as showrunner after four seasons.

Now, light years (and decades) away from Washington, Iannucci has set his sights on more of humankind’s shortcomings, from capitalism to consumerism, to the belief that technology can solve any manmade problem — even when it’s the cause of that very same issue. The result is a series that, despite having a cast that includes Hugh Laurie, Zach Woods, Suzy Nakamura, and Josh Gad struggles at the outset to be the well-oiled comedy machine that Iannucci’s previous series was. And ultimately, that’s part of what makes Avenue 5 interesting to watch.

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Avenue 5 Premiere Review HBO Takes Armando Iannucci’s Brutal Satire Into Space

That much is true partly because it’s fascinating to watch someone like Iannucci step into a situational comedy he’s not necessarily known for, but also because, as evidenced by the episodes sent out to critics ahead of the premiere, Avenue 5 gets noticeably better and funnier as goes along. Part of the problem with the pilot is that, well, it’s a pilot — one that has a lot of heavy lifting to do in a relatively short amount of time. Iannucci and his writers are tasked with building a familiar-enough future world — one where luxury cruises around Saturn are the norm — and introducing an incredibly large ensemble, from Laurie’s Captain Ryan Clark to Woods’s nihilistic customer service agent Matt Spencer to Gad’s Elon-Musk-meets-Jonah-Hill eccentric billionaire Herman Judd. There are quite a few memorable supporting characters as well, like Suzy Nakamura’s Judd’s advisor Iris Kimura and Lenora Crichlow as engineer Billie McEvoy. There are also a number of memorable civilian passengers too, like the soon-to-be-divorced couple played by Kyle Bornheimer and Jessica St. Claire.

In other words, Avenue 5 had its work cut out for it at the onset. Try as it might, the premiere, ‘I Was Flying,’ more or less collapses under the weight of its own narrative ambitions. There’re some laughs, to be sure, but the episode is mostly caught in a tricky situation of explaining how a luxury cruise liner could be knocked off course so that an eight-week tour of the solar system becomes a three-year tour, and how everyone who is supposed to be in charge of the situation is fundamentally inept.

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Through it all, Iannucci keeps the premiere moving at a solid clip, which helps assuage concerns over some of the jokes falling flat or the literally clumsy way in which the titular ship finds itself knocked off course. In between the set-up, though, the series begins to show that ideas it’s really interested in examining, ideas that are positioned front and center once the premise has been established and, for the most part, accepted. Those ideas revolve mainly around notions of capitalism running amok and humankind’s increasing over-reliance on technology. But it also has some choice words for consumers, especially those with a tendency to see members of the service industry as less than.

It helps that Avenue 5 has the likes of Laurie and Woods in lead roles, to help smooth out the wrinkles in the premiere, though Nakamura, Crichlow, and Nikki Amuka-Bird all prove to be indispensable parts of the supporting cast. Like Veep, Avenue 5 is only as good as its expansive cast, and it seems that Iannucci and HBO have cast very well. And, like its political predecessor, Avenue 5 revels in its verbal brutality and utter cynicism (both of which are prominently displayed in episode 2). Though it’s a little clunky at first, fans of Iannucci’s work will likely be drawn to this unlikely sci-fi skewering of capitalism and consumerism, and they’ll certainly be tempted to stick around as the series only gets better as it moves along.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/avenue-5-premiere-review-hbo-takes-armando-iannuccis-space-series/

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