Curb Your Enthusiasm - Official ELEVENTH Season Thread

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by dirwuf, Dec 1, 2020.

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  1. GregM

    GregM The expanding man

    Location:
    Bay Area, CA
    Oh please. The entire setup was to show that, if Vindman was purely interested in doing the right thing, he would have alerted Leon what was going on instead of allowing himself to take Leon's girl and Leon's plane ticket. The clear conclusion to the episode is that Vindman was as much an opportunist as anyone, masquerading as holier-than-thou, and using his position and fame to get preferential treatment. Reality check: that was why he allowed himself to appear on the show, FFS. It's just multilayered comedy like none other that can appeal to anyone of any race and any political bias. Comedy genius.
     
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  2. TurtleIsland

    TurtleIsland Forum Resident

    Location:
    Back West
    He didn't take Leon's plane ticket. Mary, WITH HER OWN AGENCY, decided to ditch Leon and go on the trip with Vindman.
     
  3. GregM

    GregM The expanding man

    Location:
    Bay Area, CA
    Yeah, the episode ends with Vindman sitting in the seat Leon had been planning for months to be sitting in, making out with Leon's girl. If Vindman is beyond reproach and all about informing people of wrongdoing, he would have told Leon instead of taking advantage of the opportunity. Are you that blinded by love o' Vindman that you don't get the joke here? He accuses and reports others of taking advantage in analogous situations.
     
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  4. TurtleIsland

    TurtleIsland Forum Resident

    Location:
    Back West
    Ha ha, there are no perfect characters in Curb. Vindman is someone who, as a real life military officer, did a heroic act for his country. In Curb, he's a guy who's now willing to take advantage of his newfound fame. As for "Leon's girl", whom he just met a few days ago, she literally committed a felony just to get away from him. Maybe she was never "Leon's girl", after all.

    And we need to talk about the word "conniving." Throughout the season, Larry thoroughly uses a woman in order to repeal a legitimate safety law that happens to be inconvenient to him. As for Mary Ferguson, she goes out of her way to steal Leon's passport in order to leave him behind on the trip. Both of those actions are basically the textbook definition of "conniving", and in Larry's case, it's actually sociopathic. If this wasn't a comedy show, they would be really abhorrent actions. But you're still hung up on Vindman, LOL.
     
  5. thgord

    thgord In Search of My Next Euphoric Groove

    Location:
    Moorpark, CA
    It's a comedy show.
     
  6. Billy Infinity

    Billy Infinity Beloved aunt

    Location:
    US
    Curb (along with Sunny) is getting me through a crappy couple of years in world history. Can we leave the "I love Trump/I hate Trump" stuff to another thread?
     
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  7. Yes, Vindman is able to poke fun at himself, just like Lary David. If anything, I admire him even more than I did already. And Tracy Ullman was wonderful, as always.

    I thought this was the best season finale of Curb, one of the best episodes of the whole series. It lives up to the old show biz adage, "leave 'em wanting more". I definitely do.
     
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  8. JohnG

    JohnG PROG now in Dolby ATMOS!

    Location:
    Long Island NY
    I love how it all came back to a pool fence in the end. Larry in the pool looking like he’s drowning and saying “where’s the fence” is comic gold.
     
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  9. kanakaris

    kanakaris Forum Resident

    Location:
    Belgium
  10. cwitt1980

    cwitt1980 Senior Member

    Location:
    Carbondale, IL USA
    Geez. That was the documentary I've been really looking forward to since hearing about it a couple weeks ago. The fact that he wants to redo it means it's going to be awhile. And since this version is done, it means there's always going to be a lost documentary unless they choose to let it out (or someone leaks it). I hope he changes his mind tomorrow.
     
  11. Kevin j

    Kevin j The 5th 99

    Location:
    Seattle Area
    prettay, prettay, prettay disappointed.

    at the same time, i love it.
     
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  12. thgord

    thgord In Search of My Next Euphoric Groove

    Location:
    Moorpark, CA
    This sort of mirrors David's refusal to follow through with his stand up special as depicted in the HBO Larry David Special that preceded CYE. Nice going bald a$$hole!
     
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  13. brucewayneofgotham

    brucewayneofgotham Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bunkville
    You know this is going to be a plot point for the next season of "Curb..." , I wonder if there even was/is a Documentary?
     
  14. MRamble

    MRamble Forum Resident

    That would be simply amazing.
     
  15. Riktator

    Riktator Surfer of the Audio Waves

    Location:
    Pugetropolis
    Larry is simply a honeybadger...he doesn't give a s***, he doesn't have to.
     
  16. Clark V Kauffman

    Clark V Kauffman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Des Moines, Iowa
    I really loved the first seven or eight seasons of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" -- I bought them all on DVD on the day of release -- but it was around Season 8 that the actors all started amping up their performances and Larry's annoying personality quirks, some of which were funny precisely because viewers could relate to them, turned into symptoms of an implausible, sociopathic mental illness.

    Confrontations between Larry and the people offended by his actions once were capped by slow burns and staring contests, which is how such things tend to happen in the real world. Now every conflict leads to scenery chewing and over-the-top shouting matches peppered with obvious attempt to create a new catchphrase ("Nobody likes a roper!" "I'm not a roper!" "You're a roper, Larry!").

    In one of the early episodes, Larry offended a black professional by unthinkingly suggesting he benefitted from affirmative action, and he was almost immediately mortified by his own comment and tried to make amends. The new Larry steals shoes from a Holocaust exhibit and has no misgivings about it. He also has no clue as to why a Mormon acts offended at his comments about taking multiple wives. He squirms, groans, leans back and loudly protests when his "girlfriend" Irma makes advances on him, and she somehow never picks up on any of those signals.

    Probably the funniest scene in the series' history was the one in Season 3 where Larry quietly and hesitatingly suggests to Cheryl that she remain in L.A., despite an expected terrorist attack, while he leaves town to save himself and go golfing. It's hilarious because Larry clearly knows he's walking through a minefield by even suggesting this, but he slowly proceeds anyway, while she quietly stares at him and tries to comprehend how he can be so shallow. If that scene were played today, Larry would be shouting his lines and yelling, "I'm going golfing, baby! You better believe it! Why should I die because you're not willing to leave town?!"

    I don't mind the implausible plot twists, but the characters still have to ring true -- or at least behave in a manner that makes sense. Since Season 7, almost every episode has been marked by the actors playing increasingly exaggerated versions of their characters. As much as I once loved this series, I think I am done with it.
     
  17. mike s in nyc

    mike s in nyc Forum Resident

    Location:
    new york, NY
    I hear what you're saying-interesting, I haven't seen the earlier seasons in a while, but yeah, they have 'amped it all up'.. tho (sadly) maybe that's kind of a sign of the times in these increasingly divisive times we live in. I still find it funny, but I don't find myself wanting to see these things again and again- but I still enjoy it a great deal-and when and if there's a new season i will watch. (And while yeah, they 'search for catchphrases' a lot, sometimes it sticks in my brain- the other day I was getting some milk out of the fridge for coffee and started thinking about 'cream shaming'.. lol
     
  18. mikeyt

    mikeyt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    The funniest scene for me is in the Palestinian chicken episode, where he knocks the yamaka off of Funkhouser's head and then turns around to see all of the Palestinians cheering him.
     
  19. a customer

    a customer Forum Resident

    Location:
    virginia
    I think that happens with lots of series that go on after six or seven years.
     
    OldSoul likes this.
  20. Billy Infinity

    Billy Infinity Beloved aunt

    Location:
    US
    Easily a Top 5 Curb episode.
     
  21. Clark V Kauffman

    Clark V Kauffman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Des Moines, Iowa
    True. “Happy Days” is the classic example of a show where the actors, over time, lost any sense of subtlety or nuance and just played exaggerated, cartoon-like versions of their characters.
     
    a customer likes this.
  22. dirwuf

    dirwuf Misplaced Chicagoan Thread Starter

    Location:
    Fairfield, CT
    Over time? The moment they started filming before a live audience it was gone...
     
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  23. a customer

    a customer Forum Resident

    Location:
    virginia
    Any show involving teens going on 10 years must be
    You can fill in the blank
     
  24. MRamble

    MRamble Forum Resident

    Exactly.

    I think the biggest reason for this shift is the loss of Cheryl as a permanent character. Larry always had to answer to Cheryl which was Larry's only kryptonite. Since they divorced he's been like King Kong, destroying everything in sight with no remorse. Early Larry was realistic now it's like some cartoon.
     
  25. GregM

    GregM The expanding man

    Location:
    Bay Area, CA
    He was always a social assassin--and unapologetic about it even when Cheryl shamed him into apologizing. The only things that resonate as fake are his attempts to play by the rules. It was never realistic from the earliest seasons. Larry in a Scorsese film? Larry tripping Shaq at a Lakers game? GMAB
     
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