When it comes to a show like Big Mouth it’s hard to pick a favorite line. The jokes fly a mile a minute. Once you’ve processed one, another setup is halfway through. Yet there’s one joke that stands head and shoulders above the rest, one brilliant cutting moment that may very well be the best joke of the year. And it happens in Big Mouth Season 4’s first episode.
The setup is simple. Andrew (John Mulaney) doesn’t want to go to camp because he’s in a giant fight with his best friend, Nick (Nick Kroll). Last year Nick dated Andrew’s ex, and Andrew still isn’t over the betrayal. As he and his Hormone Monster Maurice (Kroll) beg his parents to go home, the magic happens.
Barbara: Marty, maybe we should just take him back.
Marty: And give in to my enemy?
Andrew: Wait — I’M your enemy? I thought your enemy was Citibike!
Marty: No! It’s you!
Is it a deeply stupid moment? Yes. But it drills into something so real it feels almost perverse. When kids are navigating the hellfire that is adolescence, there’s a point when their parents unofficially become their enemies. No one can predict when it’s going to strike just like no one can predict what specific parental misstep is going to result in a screaming match. It’s just a thing that happens when kids have too many hormones, too many emotions, and no clear outlet for their boundless frustrations. Seeing this dynamic validated and reversed is morbidly gratifying. Marty and his son Andrew are absolutely enemies right now just like how Jessi is feuding with her mom. Who knows if that dynamic will keep up, but it’s the way things currently are.
It also doesn’t hurt that Andrew has one of the most bizarre and least healthy relationships with his parents. Entire episodes have been devoted to how much Andrew wants to punch his dad or the boundless anxiety he’s inherited from his mom. Actively acknowledging that this parent-child relationship is toxic weirdly only makes it funnier. It’s as if Big Mouth has stopped beating around the source of Andrew’s many emotional hangups.Compounding that morbid certainty is Richard Kind’s line delivery. Kind was practically built to be the obnoxious, constantly screaming dad. But his confidence and anger in openly declaring war on his son? Priceless.
The Link LonkDecember 05, 2020 at 10:30PM
https://ift.tt/2IgMW9N
'Big Mouth' Season 4 Kicks Off With the Best Joke of 2020 - Decider
https://ift.tt/2BsGM2G
Joke
No comments:
Post a Comment