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'Seinfeld'
resurrected: No need to curb enthusiasm |
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By STEVEN
SNYDER - TimeOut Movie Critic
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October 19,
2009 |
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For
two weekends now, I’ve experienced the strangest, most
glorious sense of déjà vu.
"Seinfeld" has returned to
my weekly routine.
Larry David, the creator of "Seinfeld,"
is now about halfway through the seventh season of his HBO
show "Curb Your Enthusiasm" – a dry and sarcastic
weekly mockumentary about the life of a grumpy television
writer, a misanthrope who goes about Los Angeles inadvertently
offending just about everyone he comes in contact with.
Given his character in this new show,
it should come as little surprise that David modeled the
character of George after himself – a grumpy guy who always
thinks people are out to screw him.
In this latest season of
"Curb," however, David’s made the decision to
bring the cast of "Seinfeld" back into the life of
his autobiographical character.
Starting Oct. 4, and continuing this
past Sunday, the "Seinfeld" clan’s been reunited.
And so now I’m starting to feel the rush of once again
making Seinfeld and company part of my weekend.
On the show, David and his old crew
are shown working together to develop a new idea for a sitcom
that can be pitched to the major networks, and what’s so
ingenious about the complete pairing – it’s the first time
the four "Seinfeld" stars have appeared together in
a new show, though a few of the actors have made guest
appearances before on "Curb" – is that it’s
pitting the TV Larry David against the very people who made
the real-life Larry David one of TV’s brightest stars. No
longer just offending family members or casual acquaintances,
David is now offending people we feel like we know personally,
after seeing them on TV for a solid decade.
I’ve long been a fan of "Curb
Your Enthusiasm" admiring the writing here as much as I
ever admired the complex and interweaving scripts that
distinguished "Seinfeld." For seven seasons now,
David has found new ways to put himself into precarious and
rude positions, violating just about every social grace and
norm. But in this new storyline, which will continue this
Sunday and for a few more weeks, he’s taken things to a
whole new level.
This is Larry David vs. "Seinfeld,"
about a creator now finding a way to tick off the people who
gave him the highlight of his résumé. He’s offending not
only Dreyfus’s sensibilities but also those of Jerry
Seinfeld, Michael Richards and Jason Alexander. There’s a
familiarity between the five that gives "Curb" a
different texture, something a little more familiar and
contentious.
In one hilarious sequence, David
attacks Dreyfus, claiming she lied about taking her daughter
to a birthday party. But what takes the whole thing up a notch
is that he feels comfortable enough with her to walk right in
and grill her kid about where she was. Turns out Dreyfus has
two daughters – a fact that David doesn’t realize as he’s
chewing her out.
As the familiarity, and stakes, have
increased, so have the number of laughs. "Curb Your
Enthusiasm" has never seemed more hilarious, and that’s
thanks to the revival of "Seinfeld," back from the
dead and giving Larry David a run for his money.
It’s must-see TV, all over again.
E-mail: SnyderReviews@hotmail.com
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