Thursday, August 7, 2008
From Elections to Season 6 of Curb Your Enthusiasm
Now that the political season has gotten to the grim part, where nothing is discussed and it becomes a personality/slogan focused attack fest, Obama saying McCain is Bush, a flat out lie, and McCain portrays Obama as the fairy tale Bill Clinton asserted, we decided to rent Season 6 of Curb Your Enthusiasm. If Obama had actually followed through and engaged in a series of cross-country debates, as both candidates had agreed, it might have been a truly interesting and useful presidential election season.
Curb Your Enthusiasm has always been uneven but Season 6 unusually so. From a great episode in the middle of the season to real clunkers involving therapists. However, the whole season was worth the finale, directed by Larry Charles, brilliantly. The ending was a real surprise — absolutely perfect. Seamlessly Larry David was able to take a cynical, slightly annoying, often uncomfortable to watch show, and turn it around, with wit and a roundness the show had yet to attain. The final montage was an entire season in itself. Do another season Larry.
The bonus features have a very funny outtake video and an HBO documentary that has the usual “oh he is so great” showbiz stuff, but also interesting snippets about David. David said his mother had said to him, “You are not so special”, which caused the audience to laugh — out of the momentum of a live interview before an audience. But it wasn't funny. It did make David, for a change, a sympathetic figure.
John Legend's beautiful rendition of “You Don't Know Me” in the final episode is only topped by this version by the great Ray Charles.
Discover Ray Charles!