Review just began its second season on Comedy Central, and in one of the latest episodes, Forrest MacNeil (Andy Daly) — the man who will review literally anything life throws his way — finds himself in the midst of one of his simplest reviews to date. He’s gotten involved in a bare-knuckled brawl and, as usual, things don’t go as planned.
After finding a man at an ATM and punching him, Forrest thinks he’s done his task — before things go hideously wrong. The man pulls out a gun and shoots him three times. Forrest is put into a coma for two months and when he wakes up, he forms a bond with his nurse Marissa (Allison Tolman). While it seems Forrest has finally found some peace after the events of season one, the show’s premise unwinds his life again.
His next review is blackmail, which sees Forrest extort money from his new love (which she says she’ll willingly give him), who’s been giving him deceased patients’ prescription pills. The entire setup ends with Forrest getting Marissa fired, driving her crazy to the point where he gets a gun pulled on him for the second time of the episode, and she gets arrested.
The sequence ends with this amazing line:
“Blackmail requires a callousness not suited to the average man, it may have made me extra money, but it made my life immeasurably poorer. In trying to do this review justice, I’ve somehow brought disaster to someone I love. I’m deeply saddened to love my sweet Marissa. Blackmail is bad. One and half stars.”
https://youtu.be/SQcU951zATU
The ridiculous premise of Review — a man reviewing any life topic — has seen Forrest go through some big life changes. In season one, he starts the show happily married, but after reviewing divorce, you slowly see his life crumble. You see him review everything from making a sex tape to being racist, to having an orgy and getting married — all while his life goes into shambles.
The mockumentary is an American adaptation of the Australian Review with Myles Barlow and it’s the perfect starring vehicle for lead Andy Daly.
While many may recognize him from roles on MadTV or Eastbound and Down, I’m most familiar with Daly from his appearances on Comedy Bang! Bang!, where his zany humour and impressive improv abilities have made him a natural fit in that unpredictable environment. On Review, he’s asked to play an incompetent straight-man critic who takes his job seriously to a fault. He’s committed to the point where you question his sanity. Daly is laugh out loud on this Comedy Central show. Only 13 episodes have aired, but there’s been no weak link among them, largely thanks to Daly’s performance.
For example, the series’ best moment thus far is when Forrest reviewed eating 15 pancakes. The review perfectly encapsulates his character. Forrest thinks the challenge is going to be easy, but in reality, it cripples him to the point where you don’t know if he’ll even be able to complete it. HitFix’s Alan Sepinwall called the episode (the third of season one), one of the “funniest half-hours in 2014.”
What makes all of these reviews so enjoyable, despite what happens to Forrest, is the emotional impact they have. We see him undergo every feeling imaginable and you can’t help but cheer him on, despite knowing he’s destroying his own life over and over again.
Review is criminally underrated. Its audience isn’t big, as season one pulled in around 500,000 views per episode. I was worried the show wouldn’t get renewed because of the below-average ratings, but Comedy Central has found a winning formula critics love. And as cliche as it sounds, it’s the role Andy Daly was born to play.
Echoing the voice of Forrest MacNeil, I give Review five stars.
