[7.6/10] Manliness is a fun topic for Arrested Development to tackle. There’s a good amount of comic juice in the notion of Michael trying to prove he’s a manly man to impress Rita and entering a local father-son triathlon with Steve Holt. The running gags about the Bluth boys being bad at sports and the whole family being terrible at pitching and catching were great. And as someone who feels a lot older watching the series now than when it was originally on the air, I can’t help but laugh with recognition at Michael overexerting himself and feeling like hell the next day.
There’s also a lot of laughs to be had at the absurdity of the “Church and State Fair.” It’s a little cartoony, but I’m fine with Arrested Development going there, and it gets a lot of jokes out of the setup. The combination of religious and military presences has commentary in and of itself. George Sr. choosing to hop in the popemobile rather than the humvee because it’s the one that’s bulletproof is pretty cutting. And the presence of a self-identified pope impersonator, some amusing local headlines, and different versions of “startled straight” in adjacent tents wrings some good humor out of it.
That said, a lot of the gay jokes haven’t aged great. I’ll confess that I still love the Tobias shtick, if only because David Cross’s delivery and comic presence is so great, and because the double entendres are just amusing in and of themselves. But George Sr. going on about prison rape to a group of gay teenagers who are into it just feels crass and hacky. It’s one of the few parts that doesn’t work.
I did, however, enjoy the “Inner Beauty” pageant featuring Maeby out to prove that the pageant’s a sham, Lindsay out to win Bob Loblaw’s affections by coaching his daughter to victory, and Tobias showing his prowess to his wife by coaching Ann to victory. There’s a lot of good gags here too (I particularly enjoyed Tobias’s “So that’s where I know her from!” line-read), and Maeby’s frustration at her effort to prove everyone’s shallow going wrong is a surprisingly good bit.
You also feel for poor George Michael getting dumped by Ann, struggling with his own insecurity about not being manly enough. The show, as usual, finds a nice clockwork way to connect it to the fai and to Buster trying to get out of the army. Plus you have GOB’s weird attempts to get back at Michael for “Stealing” his son and some nice setup in his description of beauty pageant judging.
All-in-all, this isn’t the laugh riot with seamless plotting that the first few episodes of the season were, but there’s still plenty to like and laugh at in this one.
:joy::joy::joy: surely we call people pussies more than Americans. Actually I’m not sure about that but it’s definitely not a compliment. The cigarette thing was right tho.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2021-05-07T01:15:02Z
[7.6/10] Manliness is a fun topic for Arrested Development to tackle. There’s a good amount of comic juice in the notion of Michael trying to prove he’s a manly man to impress Rita and entering a local father-son triathlon with Steve Holt. The running gags about the Bluth boys being bad at sports and the whole family being terrible at pitching and catching were great. And as someone who feels a lot older watching the series now than when it was originally on the air, I can’t help but laugh with recognition at Michael overexerting himself and feeling like hell the next day.
There’s also a lot of laughs to be had at the absurdity of the “Church and State Fair.” It’s a little cartoony, but I’m fine with Arrested Development going there, and it gets a lot of jokes out of the setup. The combination of religious and military presences has commentary in and of itself. George Sr. choosing to hop in the popemobile rather than the humvee because it’s the one that’s bulletproof is pretty cutting. And the presence of a self-identified pope impersonator, some amusing local headlines, and different versions of “startled straight” in adjacent tents wrings some good humor out of it.
That said, a lot of the gay jokes haven’t aged great. I’ll confess that I still love the Tobias shtick, if only because David Cross’s delivery and comic presence is so great, and because the double entendres are just amusing in and of themselves. But George Sr. going on about prison rape to a group of gay teenagers who are into it just feels crass and hacky. It’s one of the few parts that doesn’t work.
I did, however, enjoy the “Inner Beauty” pageant featuring Maeby out to prove that the pageant’s a sham, Lindsay out to win Bob Loblaw’s affections by coaching his daughter to victory, and Tobias showing his prowess to his wife by coaching Ann to victory. There’s a lot of good gags here too (I particularly enjoyed Tobias’s “So that’s where I know her from!” line-read), and Maeby’s frustration at her effort to prove everyone’s shallow going wrong is a surprisingly good bit.
You also feel for poor George Michael getting dumped by Ann, struggling with his own insecurity about not being manly enough. The show, as usual, finds a nice clockwork way to connect it to the fai and to Buster trying to get out of the army. Plus you have GOB’s weird attempts to get back at Michael for “Stealing” his son and some nice setup in his description of beauty pageant judging.
All-in-all, this isn’t the laugh riot with seamless plotting that the first few episodes of the season were, but there’s still plenty to like and laugh at in this one.