You have to love a series where there's no valid way to explain to anyone what it's really about without spoiling most of the plot in the process.
Jonah Hill and Emma Stone drive a plot through ten episodes that appear, at least at first, to be somewhat unbalanced, considering the disclaimers of "dark humor" and "absurd" as its descriptive categories. At first, I didn't quite understand why this series was considered a comedy--after all, we're dealing with a future in which the ads we normally have to bat away as we surf the internet now appear as briefcase-carrying people, annoying us with constant suggestions of what to buy or what to do in order to pay for the simplest things in life that we need--subway fare or cigarettes.
While there is parody there, I suppose, in some aspect, there isn't really "comedy", or even "dark comedy".
It gets worse once we start to really get into Owen's (Jonah Hill) and Annie's (Emma Stone) lives. Owen comes across as one of the most sad, pitiful characters in the existence of film, and Annie comes across as one of the world's biggest annoyances... Only to slowly find out that both of them have monstrous pasts that dictate their personalities. Owen's life is a nightmare of mental illness and tyrannical dominance, while Annie's life is a nightmare of endless self-punishment.
The reason I give this AMAZING series a 9 instead of a 10 (and it hurts me that I can't give it a 10) is that the comedy and the drama don't really fuse together on a level that really makes sense. You laugh when its funny, but only so long as you get away from the main plot... Once you come back down from your laughter, a kind of terrible sadness takes over again, from whence you left it... A sadness thick enough to swallow you whole, should you let it.
There are other subtle reasons why I have to give this a 9... Characters that are 'secondary' to the plot don't get definitive resolutions or explanations, which is a shame considering how they affect the generation of the plot and its outcomes.
Sally Field delivers what she ALWAYS delivers to film--a solid performance both wacky and serious that is wonderful to behold in this limited series. ALL of the actors deliver wonderful performances, and stick with you after the credits roll.
It's a shame to have to give this a 9--it's a very HIGH 9, that I have to give it. I loved this series, its quirkiness, its originality, its warnings, and even its ending. I won't spoil anything for you here, but I will tell you this--it's totally worth the effort. Every time you think that you have it figured out, another curveball will come. And that's a good thing, these days.
Sit back, open your mind, and enjoy the rollercoaster that is MANIAC. Just remember that most of it is happening within the minds of the patients, and not really happening in the fabric of the film you're watching (though that truly isn't real, either).
Jonah Hill and Emma Stone drive a plot through ten episodes that appear, at least at first, to be somewhat unbalanced, considering the disclaimers of "dark humor" and "absurd" as its descriptive categories. At first, I didn't quite understand why this series was considered a comedy--after all, we're dealing with a future in which the ads we normally have to bat away as we surf the internet now appear as briefcase-carrying people, annoying us with constant suggestions of what to buy or what to do in order to pay for the simplest things in life that we need--subway fare or cigarettes.
While there is parody there, I suppose, in some aspect, there isn't really "comedy", or even "dark comedy".
It gets worse once we start to really get into Owen's (Jonah Hill) and Annie's (Emma Stone) lives. Owen comes across as one of the most sad, pitiful characters in the existence of film, and Annie comes across as one of the world's biggest annoyances... Only to slowly find out that both of them have monstrous pasts that dictate their personalities. Owen's life is a nightmare of mental illness and tyrannical dominance, while Annie's life is a nightmare of endless self-punishment.
The reason I give this AMAZING series a 9 instead of a 10 (and it hurts me that I can't give it a 10) is that the comedy and the drama don't really fuse together on a level that really makes sense. You laugh when its funny, but only so long as you get away from the main plot... Once you come back down from your laughter, a kind of terrible sadness takes over again, from whence you left it... A sadness thick enough to swallow you whole, should you let it.
There are other subtle reasons why I have to give this a 9... Characters that are 'secondary' to the plot don't get definitive resolutions or explanations, which is a shame considering how they affect the generation of the plot and its outcomes.
Sally Field delivers what she ALWAYS delivers to film--a solid performance both wacky and serious that is wonderful to behold in this limited series. ALL of the actors deliver wonderful performances, and stick with you after the credits roll.
It's a shame to have to give this a 9--it's a very HIGH 9, that I have to give it. I loved this series, its quirkiness, its originality, its warnings, and even its ending. I won't spoil anything for you here, but I will tell you this--it's totally worth the effort. Every time you think that you have it figured out, another curveball will come. And that's a good thing, these days.
Sit back, open your mind, and enjoy the rollercoaster that is MANIAC. Just remember that most of it is happening within the minds of the patients, and not really happening in the fabric of the film you're watching (though that truly isn't real, either).