TV Review: Angie Tribeca review
Angie Tribeca is one of those shows that hearken back to the era of 80s slapstick comedy.
Created by Steve and Nancy Carell, the series is a spoof of police procedurals which follows the titular character Angie Tribeca as played by Rashida Jones and her 247th (or is it 258th?) partner, Jay Geils.
If you have ever been a fan of such movies like Airplane, Naked Gun, or Hot Shots, this show is right up your alley. Quite frankly, I miss comedies like this but the question is: how long can this last without burning itself out?
Why is this a question? Because each episode packs in a ton of jokes in the 25 minutes of run time per episode. Some of the jokes are hits and some fall flat. Sometimes the ones that fell flat piled up on each other and this reflects in the episodes as some of the episodes were hilarious from beginning to end while others were a bit painful to endure. What made the episodes hard to watch, especially in the later running of the marathon that TBS had going, was that each episode slavishly follows the point A to point B plot line while trying to squeeze the most out of every joke in between.
The supporting cast, however, is up to task in making some of the jokes go over as well. My favorites are Alfred Molina’s Dr. Edelweiss who seemingly has a debilitating handicap each show, Deon Cole’s DJ Tanner as the wanna be hard boiled cop who is partnered with a dog that somehow everyone can understand, and Andree Vermeulen’s Dr. Scholls (yes…) who I find very funny as the straight laced medical examiner who declares people dead who clearly are not.
Rounding out the cast are recurring guest stars Bill Murray, James Franco, Quincy Jones, Keegan-Michael Key and Amy Smart.
The shining star of this however is, of course, Rashida Jones. This type of comedy brings out the best of her abilities which really allows her to move out of Amy Poehler’s shadow and her Parks and Recreation fame.
Angie Tribeca is great mindless fun and while not for everyone, it’s worth checking out.
3.75 sight gags out of 5
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