‘Bad Monkey’ series review: Vince Vaughn shoulders this deceptive crime-comedy

What are the odds of a severed arm latching onto a tourist’s fishing hook, tagging along with it the lives of a detective-turned-food inspector, a forensic pathologist, a young fisherman and trailing a host of myriad other characters as well? Bad Monkey, streaming on Apple TV+, is about piecing together the owner of this arm while also telling a tale about greed and corruption.

Based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Carl Hiaasen, the 10-part series created by Bill Lawrence (five of which are available for streaming, and the rest dropping every week) is set in Florida and stars Vince Vaughn, Natalie Martinez, Rob Delaney, Michelle Monaghan, Meredith Hagner and Ronald Peet.

Mounted as a crime-comedy and taking the form of a hyperlink narrative, one part of the story unfolds on the Florida Keys, the archipelago at the southernmost tip of the U.S., where Vince Vaughn’s Andrew Yancy works as a food inspector. The other part happens 450 km away in the Bahamas, where local fisherboy Neville, played by Ronald Peet, has his relaxed life of drinking and fishing upended by a new resort project. A third strand of the tale takes place on the U.S. mainland in Miami while the fourth is the narrator’s voice.

Notwithstanding the multiple story threads, Bad Monkey initially mirrors the laidback nature of its beach setting and trudges along during the first three episodes. The wry humour, a byproduct of verbose dialogues, often fails to hit the mark, leaving the viewer to seek solace in the coastal life and warm colourtones. 

Vince Vaughn in a still from ‘Bad Monkey’ | Photo Credit: Apple TV

However, there is only so much that visuals can compensate for before dreariness sets in. It is then up to the trivia tidbits, such as how red lights have replaced conventional streetlamps to favour the turtles, to supplant the poor writing.

Fortunately, things take a turn for the good by the fourth episode. Backstories are unravelled, the crime-caper nature of the narrative kicks in, and the show attains full flourish. Main characters, including Vaughn’s Yancy, who appeared one-note until then, take on a well-rounded form, while others, who would keep dropping in, assume significance.

By virtue of being set in Miami and the Bahamas, the show, like many contemporary Hollywood projects, boasts a cast comprising different ethnicities including White, Hispanic and Afro-Americans. Rounding off the inclusivity roster is John Ortiz’s Ro - Yancy’s gay best friend, who is raising two children with his partner.

For a show that aims to be a comedy and has Vince Vaughn in the lead, it is ironic that jokes are the chink in its armour. Laughs are few and far in between even when Vaughn’s motor mouth goes into overdrive, to the point where his character becomes annoying. Redemption for Yancy then lies in his stubbornness in adhering to his morality. His insistence on doing good and acting like the ‘world cop’ becomes his endearing trait.

A still from ‘Bad Monkey’ | Photo Credit: Apple TV

Even better is how Yancy’s unshakable core is contrasted nicely by that of his dubious on/off partner Bonnie played by Michelle Monaghan. Her moral awakening about taking accountability is one of the pleasant surprises of the show. That the other surprises are also served up by two women characters — Natalie Martinez’s Rosa Campesino and Jodie Turner Smith’s Dragon Queen — with their fulfilling character arcs, also work in the show’s favour.

Aiding the story in good measure are also its villains. When most shows deploy ‘evil’ villains as an easy way out, the primary emotion that drives the antagonists of Bad Monkey is greed born out of mutual misery. Greed, being a more fundamental emotion to humans than evil, makes the villains of Bad Monkey relatable.

This is not to say Bad Monkey is brimming with novelty. The show has plenty of shortcomings that are offset to an extent by the organic way in which the narrative threads converge neatly towards the end. The amusement lies in discovering how a show that began on a middling note and remained so until halfway, manages to get its act together in the latter half — something achieved with the help of little deceptions along the storyline, much like how the real bad animal is not what the title claims to be in the end.

Bad Monkey is available to stream on Apple TV

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