"Curb Your Enthusiasm" is one of those rare shows in which the hero is also the village idiot.
Watching Larry David interacting with other human beings is like watching someone trying to get out of quicksand. He gets himself into awkward, racial, religious, social and sexual debacles, and the process through which he extricates himself is the meat of the show. It is not easy comedy to pull off, but David and his team of writers manage to do it consistently.
The fourth season of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" was released Aug. 30 on DVD with all 10 episodes, including the hour-long season finale.
The season starts off with Cheryl and Larry coming up on their 10th wedding anniversary. Larry recalls an agreement that they had made when they got engaged - that Larry could sleep with someone else after 10 years of marriage. So, in the very first episode the quest begins.
Ratings: Curb Your Enthusiasm |
The season moves along fairly quickly, with Larry trying to find someone who will sleep with him while also being offered the main part in "The Producers" by Mel Brooks. His counterpart in "The Producers" is Ben Stiller, who eventually quits because of David's tendencies toward being an asshole and is replaced with David Schwimmer.
During the season, Larry gets an erection from petting a dog, takes a hooker to a baseball game so he can use the carpool lane, buys medical marijuana, mistakes a reality-show survivor for a Holocaust survivor, renews his vows with Cheryl and blinds Ben Stiller.
That is just the tip of the iceberg of the mayhem that David creates just by virtue of being himself. He seems to lack the mechanism that filters thoughts between his head and mouth, which is perhaps why the show is so successful.
In order to understand the show, one does not need to have seen the previous three seasons. There are some behavioral patterns that carry over through the seasons, but the humor in them isn't a huge element of the show.
Richard Lewis, veteran comedian and "Enthusiasm" regular, brings the most laughs as himself - a recovering alcoholic stand-up comedian.
The DVD itself leaves a lot to be desired. There are no extras whatsoever. In some ways, this leaves the focus on the show itself, but in other ways, it's just plain cheap.
"Curb Your Enthusiasm" is a hilarious show. It is not really about anything except for the ridiculousness of everyday life, much like its predecessor "Seinfeld." The difference between the two shows, however, is that on "Enthusiasm" there is no laugh track and they can say "fuck." Which, of course, makes it a show worth watching.