Larry David/USA/2005; R4 (2-disc)
Warner Bros, $49.95 | Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

WHEN THE DUST settles from this decade, the 2000s may go down as Television’s Golden Age. While movie studios try to figure out why movie attendance has dropped and conveniently blame DVD piracy, a more likely explanation could be the standard of television is the best it’s ever been – The Sopranos, The Wire, The Office, Little Britain are but a few of some of the rich and glorious talent on TV. Why go out when there’s more talent and richer storytelling at home? United States comedy is also starting to challenge its viewers, even the American version of The Office is pretty good. However, you only have to watch the sheer mediocrity (or far worse) of popular 90s comedy shows like Friends, Home Improvement or Everybody Loves Raymond to actually realise how special a show like Curb Your Enthusiasm is.

Rumours of the Fifth Season being the “jumping the shark” season for Larry David and co. are greatly exaggerated. It still is the sharpest and funniest real-life TV satire coming out of the States. And while certain situations are slightly more unbelievable than previous seasons, or you may have gotten used to David messing things up (I still however yell “no” at the TV), or the continuing storyline which was occasionally a little distracting (it had lost a bit of its self-contained glory), it’s still goddamn hilarious. The great thing about this show was that you’ve got a man who seems to have everything – artistic credibility due to his creating of Seinfeld, a pretty wife, loads of money, a big house, famous friends – but everything just seems to conspire against him. In fact it’s the things he has, something that most American sitcoms have taken for granted, that is the cause of his misery. The glorious irony of the final episode where he’s punished for doing a good deed gives an idea of the show’s trajectory.

And the social observation is still there. The ten episodes include classic moments such as buying another woman a bra, congratulating a father when his previously lesbian daughter gets a boyfriend, apologising to someone while eating pistachio nuts, querying whether black men who wear bowties are Muslim and the brilliant episode where he invites a known sex-offender to a party of his. Less successful (while important for a narrative purpose) is Richard Lewis’ kidney operation running storyline, but even then, Larry’s attempt to get friendly with the organ waiting list supervisor carries on the great David tradition.

The improvised nature of the show makes for great acting – and while some people don’t like the show because they don’t like David, it’s mainly because David is so convincing as an arsehole. You kinda get the impression he’s not faking it either. Part of this may be due to the way it’s filmed – it’s very clearly filmed in digital, and doesn’t attempt like The Office to clean up the digital camera flaws. Visually, like basic digital filmmaking, it’s garish, too sharp and the blacks don’t work – but somehow it fits the show perfectly.

This season was apparently meant to be the last, and the plot narrative was certainly working that way (the final episode of the season was set-up a little like the final show of Seinfeld) but if it continues like this, long may it continue. Though when Curb does decide to end, it will pretty quickly go down as one of the great comedy TV shows of all-time.


THE DVD contains two behind-the-scenes documentaries. The first is The History of Curb... So Far, and looks at how David got to make this show and how his casting took place. It’s very funny stuff, and gives an insight into how David hired his friends to play the other characters. The best part is the final credit sequence where everyone gives their opinion on David, suggesting David is an evil man to be able to think of all this. The second documentary, The History of Curb… Even Further looks more at how the show is filmed. The way it’s written and improvised, the way it’s filmed etc. is fascinating viewing for the Curb fan.