Larry David has had one of the most prolific careers in comedy. A co-creator of Seinfeld and the main driving force behind Curb Your Enthusiasm, David earned himself generations of fans (and several accolades) with his distinct and relatable brand of humor. Considering how successful Curb Your Enthusiasm was for HBO (including 55 Emmy nominations), it shouldn’t come as any surprise that they decided to team up with David once again for his latest project, Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness, a sketch comedy series that covers key events in American history. Designed as a celebration of the country’s 250th birthday, it’s scoring high viewership numbers, but low critical scores.
According to FlixPatrol, which measures the popularity of titles across various streaming services, Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness is currently the No. 4 TV series on HBO Max. It trails only Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Rick and Morty, and House of the Dragon on the chart. Additionally, Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness is the No. 5 title overall on HBO Max.
Unfortunately, David’s latest endeavor does not match his previous efforts in terms of review scores. On Rotten Tomatoes, Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness has a critics score of 54% (the lowest for Curb Your Enthusiasm was Season 9’s 74%, a respectable mark). The audience score is even worse, coming in at 43%.
To this point, David has had a rather impeccable track record; Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm are two of best sitcoms of all time, so expectations were high for Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness (especially with none other than Barack and Michelle Obama involved as well). Unfortunately, what could have been an entertaining retrospective about America failed to live up to its potential. One of the biggest takeaways from the reviews is that the show is very uneven. Some of the skits work very well, while others aren’t as strongly executed. In particular, the reliance on David’s trademark comedic persona wore thin on some people.
There are those who are higher on Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness than others, feeling it does enough to capture the spirit of Curb Your Enthusiasm to make it worthwhile for fans of David’s schtick, but even some of the positive reviews aren’t entirely glowing. It seems like your mileage with the show will vary; if you like David and are intrigued by the premise, it probably doesn’t hurt to watch at least the first episode and see where you land. The series premiere runs 33 minutes, so it doesn’t overstay its welcome.
It’ll be interesting to see how the response impacts viewership for Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness as the series goes on (new episodes release weekly through early August). It’s one thing for critics to be unimpressed, but the low audience score is the real troubling matter here. That indicates that the show isn’t truly working for its target audience, meaning people could lose interest. In some cases, there’s a divide between critics and audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, with the latter having a much more favorable view of a project (this just happened with DC’s Supergirl). Unfortunately, nobody appears to be on Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness‘ side, so it’s unlikely positive word of mouth spreads.
Of course, only one episode of Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness is available to stream on HBO Max (the second premieres on July 3rd). Perhaps when people get an opportunity to watch more of the series, opinions will change. The critics’ reviews suggest that isn’t in the cards, but the tide could still turn in David’s favor when it’s all said and done.
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