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This Bad Monkey review contains no spoilers.
There’s a lot going on in Apple TV+’s new comedy Bad Monkey, and the titular monkey is the least of it. In the first episode alone, we’re introduced to a severed arm in a cooler, an acrimonious real-estate feud, a boho-chic chick with a questionable past, a heaping dose of witchcraft, and gorgeous views as far as the eye can see. Based on the cult classic novel Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen, the show splits its time between Miami, Key West, and the island of Andros in the Bahamas. The relaxed beach atmosphere, combined with an audaciously quirky cast of characters and ongoing cat-and-mouse detective game, makes for an irresistible end-of-summer escape.
Vince Vaughn is at the center of the controlled insanity. He plays Andrew Yancy, a Hiaasen fan-favorite character. As the series opens, Yancy is on mandatory leave from his position as a detective at the Key West PD following an incident that I will not disclose here because the reveal made me unleash a guffaw in the middle of my living room. The story kicks into high gear immediately as Yancy’s ex-partner, Rogelio (John Ortiz), brings him a severed arm and asks him to transport it to Miami as a favor. Yancy is butthurt about not being on the force anymore, but the mystery of a severed arm — with its middle digit stuck in the “flipping the bird” position, no less — is just too tantalizing for him to turn down. He also has a strong feeling that solving this oddball case could possibly land him back on the force, so he starts to snoop.
Yancy’s unauthorized detective work brings him into contact with a memorable cast of characters, and there’s great fun in watching them all bounce off of one another. Meredith Hagner dives into mean girl mischief as a scheming girlfriend with Penny Lane vibes and millionaire dreams. Jodie Turner-Smith steps into the role of Gracie, a.k.a. the Dragon Queen of Andros, and she is magnetic in her ability to access the most feral and raw emotion that the series has to offer. Gracie’s steely Yaya (L. Scott Caldwell) encourages her granddaughter’s magical thinking, and their storyline often lends the show its more thoughtful moments.
Zach Braff pops up — a semi-Scrubs reunion of sorts with series creator Bill Lawrence — as a derelict doctor. (Think: If JD had a raging pill addiction and fell in with the wrong crowd. I mean, he would never because obviously his bestie is Turk, always and forever, but just imagine it.) Bill Lawrence’s daughter Charlotte Lawrence makes her onscreen debut as Delaney’s bitter daughter, and she brings a sprightly energy to the proceedings. I could go on, but I won’t because getting to know these eccentric characters is half the fun of this series.
All of these characters are also in Hiaasen’s book, drawn with the entertainingly broad pen that you might expect detective mysteries set in South Florida to be written in. But the broadness of the roles in this case appears to be catnip for the actors involved. Sure, the characters are kind of caricatures, but playing caricatures can be great fun. There’s no doubt that everyone on this series is having a blast tackling these roles with abandon. Michelle Monaghan — who plays the boho chic chick I mentioned previously — seems to be having the most fun playing Bonnie, Yancy’s ex who just can’t seem to resist popping into his life at inopportune moments. Monaghan flits through all of her scenes with a manic and bouncy energy that encapsulates the gritty yet loose vibe of the Keys.
If it feels like I’m trying to be cagey about the plot of Bad Monkey by primarily talking about the (excellent) cast, it’s because I totally am. For me, the great draw of this series was watching everything unfold with zero concept of where things were going to go next. Bad Monkey is, first and foremost, a comedy, and the entertainment comes from watching all of these wild characters bounce off of one another in the most bonkers of circumstances. There’s a plot, and it’s fascinating for sure, but I would also happily watch these characters sit around and shoot the shit at a coffee house for a couple episodes.
But it’s also a refreshing change from the Very Serious™ themes that often come along with popular comedies these days. While Bill Lawrence’s previous outings for Apple TV+ — Ted Lasso and Shrinking — also relied on a strong stable of odd couple characters pairing off in delightful ways, they both frequently dabble in heavier themes such as grief, unresolved mental health issues, chronic illness, etc. I’m not complaining! I adore both of these shows dearly! But sometimes a girl just wants a comedy, straight up. And Bad Monkey is a shot of pure funny. It’s a show that’s — at least in my experience — full of legitimate laugh-out-loud moments. The laughs come from Vince Vaughn doing his snappy one-liner Vince Vaughn thing, but also from the absurdities of day-to-day existence, the asides from the wry narrator, and the hyper-specific realities of life in colorful South Florida, a specialty of novelist Carl Hiaasen.
I’ve never read a Carl Hiaasen novel, but the show definitely makes me want to dive into his prolific body of work. The TV adaptation has a literary feel to it, not only in the broadness of the characters, but also due to the fact that every episode leads up to a big, honking cliffhanger. There’s also a voice over from a kind, weathered narrator (Tom Nowicki) who gently takes us along for the ride. The literary feel is also bolstered by a deep catalog of Tom Petty covers that provide the irresistibly mellow soundtrack to the series. The idea of soundtracking a series that’s an adaptation of a beloved Florida-centric book with a catalog of covers of a beloved artist from Florida is a meta twist that brings this show to the next level.
Fantastic Tom Petty covers aside, I’m not entirely sure if Bad Monkey is a great show, but damn if I didn’t have an awesome time watching it. Bad Monkey is more of a vibe than anything, and all I know is that spending time in the world of the series is a true blast, a balm for the end-of-summer scaries.
The first two episodes of Bad Monkey are available to stream on Apple TV+ now. New episodes premiere Wednesdays, culminating in the finale on Oct. 9, 2024. All 10 episodes were watched for this review.
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