This American remake of the brilliant and often very dark Australian series of the same name is riddled with bad choices which resulted in a bland and poorly executed comedy.
The original series was so good not just in the way that the reviews were executed, but also the way they were picked. The presenter Myles Barlow would read a letter from a viewer containing some personal issue or predicament then he would decide what to review based on what he thinks is the theme of the letter, sometimes reviewing things that have little to no relation to the letter itself, making it all the more funny. After experiencing what he was set to review and just before giving it a rating, Barlow would then present this wordy monologue full of pseudo-criticism jargon. It was one of the highlights of the series' superb writing.
Instead of letters, the American version has tweets, emails or video messages that simply say what's it like to do this, or how it feels to do that. Then we see the present Forrest MacNeil leaving the studio to review it. The part where he talks about the experience is never funny. It's just a couple of simple and tired sentences repeated throughout the show. It felt like so much of the comedic value was lost. MacNeil cartoonish personality and obnoxious delivery didn't help much either.
One of the most notable addition to the remake is of course a co-presenter which possibly happens to be one of the most unfunny and unnecessary characters to ever appear in a comedy series, and that's something that you'll be reminded of every time she says a word or makes a facial expression looking at the camera.
When it comes to the reviews themselves, too many were about sex, and they mostly felt like a lazy way to get some cheap laughs. You have the Making a Sex Tape review, Orgy review, Gloryhole review, Sleeping with Your Teacher review and even Mile High Club review where MacNeil has to have sex in an airplane bathroom. Some of these contain the kind of situations that no one over 14 or 15 would find funny. Some of the reviews that I found myself enjoying more were the likes of Being Irish, and Small People. It was always funny illustrating how dedicated Forrest is to what he was reviewing.
The original series was so good not just in the way that the reviews were executed, but also the way they were picked. The presenter Myles Barlow would read a letter from a viewer containing some personal issue or predicament then he would decide what to review based on what he thinks is the theme of the letter, sometimes reviewing things that have little to no relation to the letter itself, making it all the more funny. After experiencing what he was set to review and just before giving it a rating, Barlow would then present this wordy monologue full of pseudo-criticism jargon. It was one of the highlights of the series' superb writing.
Instead of letters, the American version has tweets, emails or video messages that simply say what's it like to do this, or how it feels to do that. Then we see the present Forrest MacNeil leaving the studio to review it. The part where he talks about the experience is never funny. It's just a couple of simple and tired sentences repeated throughout the show. It felt like so much of the comedic value was lost. MacNeil cartoonish personality and obnoxious delivery didn't help much either.
One of the most notable addition to the remake is of course a co-presenter which possibly happens to be one of the most unfunny and unnecessary characters to ever appear in a comedy series, and that's something that you'll be reminded of every time she says a word or makes a facial expression looking at the camera.
When it comes to the reviews themselves, too many were about sex, and they mostly felt like a lazy way to get some cheap laughs. You have the Making a Sex Tape review, Orgy review, Gloryhole review, Sleeping with Your Teacher review and even Mile High Club review where MacNeil has to have sex in an airplane bathroom. Some of these contain the kind of situations that no one over 14 or 15 would find funny. Some of the reviews that I found myself enjoying more were the likes of Being Irish, and Small People. It was always funny illustrating how dedicated Forrest is to what he was reviewing.