‘The Franchise’ Review: HBO’s Superhero Movie Comedy Falls Flat
The state of big-budget studio filmmaking obviously isn’t as consequential as the state of a dysfunctional, ego-driven, often deeply ridiculous U.S. government. Yet for those who obsessively follow the former, it’s probably more compelling, with the fandom of superhero movies and their ilk adding in a bizarre sports-style overlay of rooting interests. So it follows that “Veep” and “Succession” writer Jon Brown would create the satirical sitcom “The Franchise” with a similar eye for the clueless hubris of an unstoppable yet eminently ruinable machine. Appropriately, “Veep” and ”The Thick of It” mastermind Armando Iannucci is on hand to executive produce.
Also similar to “Veep” is the new show’s mix of schadenfreude for a cursed system and reluctant sympathy for its various cogs (at least the less openly venal ones). It becomes clear early on that it would probably be better for the artistic health of the film industry if a movie like “Tecto,” a seemingly “Aquaman”-like installment of a very Marvel-style cinematic universe from, ah, Maximum Studios, simply crashed and burned. Yet Daniel (Himesh Patel), the film’s beleaguered first assistant director, is a reasonable guy just trying to do his job well and help the easily flustered and sometimes indecisive actual director Eric (Daniel Brühl) realize his vision within the ever-shifting parameters set by crass executive idiot Pat (Darren Goldstein), depicted as kind of a second-in-command to a Kevin Feige type. Pat delegates some of this enforcement to producer Anita (Aya Cash), who also, in a development that never feels fully convincing or productive, happens to be Daniel’s ex.
It takes a while for Anita to actually show up in the story, which allows “The Franchise” to get a little muddled in its own POV early on. Daniel is likable but not all that funny, and at first, it seems like the audience’s entry point will be Dag (Lolly Adefope), a third AD who is learning the ropes from Daniel as the show opens, allowing viewers to be briefed alongside her. But throughout the season, Dag’s character remains baffling. Sometimes she issues dry commentary on the absurdities that surround her. Sometimes she comes across as a cringe-comedy striver, making repeated and awkward attempts to leapfrog out of the job she seems to barely know how to do. In some scenes she despairs for the state of the film industry; in others she seems utterly uninterested in it, and her personal ambitions (leave the set early for a party or become a high-powered producer?) seem to change from episode to episode. Put together, the character seems off in two or three different orbits at once, and Adefope spends a lot of time standing around with her hands in her pockets, wearing a drolly insinuating expression, as if waiting for her “Fleabag” moment to turn to the camera.
It’s probably not Adefope’s fault; though “The Franchise” can be quite cutting, it skews a bit more stereotypically workplace-sitcom than “Veep,” meaning it sometimes errs on the side of quirky rather than nasty. “Franchise” also shares with Iannucci’s work a tendency to become exhausting through sheer running-in-circles repetition, something that probably reflects the experience of making a superhero movie almost too accurately. Either way, Eric acquiring a nervous case of hiccups during times of stress does not get funnier with its third or fourth appearance.
Ironically, one of the best bits of “The Franchise” is its own approximation of big-budget slickness. Executive producer Sam Mendes also directed the first episode, and contributes an elaborate state-of-the-set tracking shot that ably sets up the show’s environment and stakes. The whole season feels saturated with behind-the-scenes details and a panicked yet cynical atmosphere; even if they’re fake (and the producers claimed to have done their research), they’re faked quite cleverly. The show has particular fun mining the insecurities of second-tier leading actor Adam (Billy Magnussen) and the vexing lack of insecurities present in his veteran co-star Peter (Richard E. Grant).
To be clear, “The Franchise” often is quite funny, in its satirical skewering of big-studio angling (there’s a hilariously superficial attempt to quickly solve the studio’s “woman problem,” which naturally then incurs the wrath of internet fanboys despite being utterly ineffectual), observations of superhero (and therefore cultural) decline, and depiction of the enormous resources and effort poured into a movie that will nonetheless wind up looking and sounding OK at best. But the machinery that threatens to comically overwhelm the characters also threatens to overwhelm the show itself. Despite Brown’s abiding appreciation for the below-the-line crew who make these movies happen, it’s hard not to wonder if a more focused show would center on Cash’s Anita, who more clearly embodies the industry at large in both her ruthlessness and her self-loathing.
Broadened into an ensemble, “The Franchise,” like “Tecto” itself, sometimes seems too big to either fail or fully succeed, stuck in perpetual-motion hell.
“The Franchise” premieres Sunday, Oct. 6, on HBO.
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