Review 'Kidding': Jim Carrey is lost on a dark television series

Carrey plays Jeff Piccirillo, who performs as "Mr. Pickles "on a long-term PBS program called The time of Mr. Pickles' puppets. It is an obvious analogue for Fred Rogers: his show tells moral stories using puppet characters and catchy songs, is filmed in a PBS regional affiliate (Columbus rather than Pittsburgh) and is the center of an empire millions of dollars of loyal fans during its 30 years of existence. Joke starts with Jeff making an appearance on Conan, and while Conan O'Brien plays Mr. Pickles unconsciously and unconsciously, the audience quickly sings one of the character's friendly features.

The similarities with Mister Rogers are mostly superficial, however. For a, The time of Mr. Pickles' puppets is oddly nepotistic: Jeff's executive producer is his father, Seb (Frank Langella), and his main puppet designer is his sister Deirdre (Catherine Keener). As the show begins, both are concerned about Jeff's well-being after the death of his teenage son Phil (Cole Allen) in a monstrous car accident and the dissolution of Jeff's marriage with Jill (Judy Greer). Seb and Deirdre have every right to worry because Carrey plays Jeff with nervous malice, his mischievous smile clearly covering his disintegrating mental state.

The main problem is that it is very difficult to understand that Jeff has never been, at any time, awesome and threatening. Carrey is a major name with a giant cultural imprint, but his comedy star image has always had a manic look – that's part of what made him so magnetic on the screen. There is no record of the former Mr. Pickles on Joke, he who has won the heart of the nation; there is just a strange and obviously haunted man, surrounded by vaguely scary puppets, who is singing directly into the camera. This incongruity is fucking, but it's also JokeAll the dramatic vanity.

As Jeff struggles with the death of his son, we see how the event has wreaked havoc in his life. His other son, Phil's twin brother, Will (Cole Allen again), became emotionless and distant, doing drugs with his teenage friends. Jill is largely useless and critical, pulling Jeff out of any luck – it's a thankless role that Greer (a great comedy talent) has been invited to play too many times during his career, in blockbusters such as Jurassic World and The ant man. Meanwhile, Seb is reluctant to Jeff's idea of ​​making a special episode of the series that deals with the loss he suffered, even though the news of such a tragedy apparently would require such a thing.

A fundamental obstacle to history Joke We can not miss the horror and uselessness of Phil's death. That makes Jill and Seb, who constantly depreciate Jeff's bizarre behavior, really inhumane. The series sees its protagonist struggling with existential questions about mortality, but the accident that killed his son is too bizarre and designed to feel worthy of such exploration. Many viewers will see Jeff's depression as completely normal and sympathetic, but Joke treats it as something fascinating and unusual.

As the show continues (four episodes were provided to critics), and Jeff's actions become stranger and weird, Joke becomes painfully monotonous. Jeff seems to be someone who needs a good therapy – but the series is obsessed with the optics he has of holding a puppet or singing a children's song while asking for help. This dichotomy is a barely convincing starting point for a story, but it is particularly fragile when used as a concept for a show.