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USA TODAY & # 39; HUI

Jennifer Garner has now defined her own character type. After appearing in "Alias" on ABC, she played a superhero ("Daredevil" and "Elektra") and a rom-com heroine ("13 Going on 30"), but was quickly ranked in Maternal roles year "Love, Simon."

Her big return on television, in HBO's "Camping", seems to be a way to deliberately conceal all the capri-clad khaki moms she's played. The series (Sunday, 10 am EDT / EDT, ★★ ½ on four) is an adaptation of a British comedy about a group of middle-aged friends who go on a camping trip to celebrate a birthday. The new version, creators of "Girls" Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner, exponentially adds grumpy humor, with a host of characters so disgusting that they give Hannah, Jessa, Marnie and Shoshanna an appearance of holiness. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes it just makes you cringe.

Garner leads the cast as Kathryn, an overzealous Instagram mom who organizes the camping trip for her visiting husband, Walt (David Tennant), on the occasion of her 45th birthday. During the weekend, her sweet sister Carleen (Ione Skye) and her boyfriend Joe (Chris Sullivan), a convalescent alcoholic with anger issues, will accompany the weekend. Kathryn's ex-best friend, Nina-Joy (Janicza Bravo), and her reckless husband, George (Brett Gelman); and their recently single friend Miguel (Arturo Del Puerto), who surprises the group by posing with Jandice (Juliette Lewis), a woman who ticks all the boxes of a "free spirit" stereotype.

More: Jennifer Garner is totally unbearable (and loves it) in the comedy HBO & # 39; Camping & # 39;

Kathryn comes with school bags, to-do lists and a busy schedule. She is completely upset by Jandice's improvisational style, not to mention her sudden popularity within the band. This tension, combined with alcohol, drugs and a group of people who are not in contact with the outside world, creates conflicts and cataclysms that are fast and furious.

Ione Skye, Janicza Bravo, Brett Gelman, Arturo Del Puerto, Juliette Lewis (Photo: Anne Marie Fox / HBO)

Garner is the real star and you'll love how much you hate her. It almost sounds like an affront to Type A people to describe Kathryn this way, but she is and more. A virgin (we can only assume) on steroids, she organizes her life aggressively and selfishly steals all of her friend's camping mattresses. She is a hypochondriac who invents diseases for her son and her husband.

Despite the performance of the Garner Snow Plow, Tennant defends against it in the form of a weak, bullet-like foil. With an American accent and an awkward hat, it is a brand new type of character for the British actor, but he succeeds. Lewis also manages to get some excellent doubles as Jandice, although the clichés threaten to defeat his performance.

Unfortunately, the rest of the cast is unforgettable and their characters are usually annoying and edgy. Their bad behavior ends up becoming repetitive and more tedious than funny.

"Camping" begins awkwardly, but from the third episode, he finds a better balance, because the camping trip is transformed into more and more absurd antics, including a dose of accidental drug and a few celebrity surprise cameos. The characters become more and more disturbed as the nightmare journey continues and the joy with which the actors portray them rises, until there is a more deliciously funny and shocking chaos.

There are times when "camping" feels a little misanthropic, and others where he feels random. In the middle are some laughs, some good performances and a bit of that sense of humor "Girls".

Like camping itself, it's certainly not for everyone, but some may like it.

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