Danny McBride is Will Ferrell's grimier, boorish stand-in.
He emerged from anonymity for his reputation as a comedian's comedian and his breakout role in indie film The Foot Fist Way. Since he came on the scene, he has been groomed as Ferrell's successor, but he hasn't quite matured enough as a comic to attain Ferrell's level of immaturity.
In his six-episode HBO comedy series Eastbound & Down, which premiered mid-February, McBride, starring as Kenny Powers (former Major League relief pitcher), hits the high notes most when the script dishes out foul-mouthed one-liners. What's missing is the smooth delivery timing of McBride's A-list mentor and the series' beating heart.
By indulging in steroids and disregarding everyone, Powers tarnishes his celebrity image and returns to his hometown in North Carolina to mooch off his humble brother's family. He gets a job as a substitute gym teacher at the middle school where his ex-girlfriend works.
In the second episode, Ferrell, the show's executive producer, cameos in a blonde moppish wig as a car dealer named Ashley Schaeffer, who sets up an autograph signing for Powers. Later on, Powers attends a middle school dance while high on ecstasy and punches his biggest fan in the face.
McBride, rocking a Jheri curl mullet, embraces the redneck caricature who is punch drunk off of his former fame and desperate to reclaim the spotlight.
Powers possesses the foolish attitude and knee-jerk temper of Happy Gilmore, in addition to an uncontrollable ego and sheer ineptitude. Vulgar, maniacal antiheroes have served as long-time presence in popular comedies. Eastbound & Down boasts an antihero whom the audience has no real reason to care about.
The viewer knows Powers will gradually undergo a disposition makeover into a hero to the community, but the early episodes show few signs of that character arc fleshing itself out convincingly enough.
This would be less noticeable if the material was stronger. The show litters jokes throughout with a haphazard consistency, but it has the possibility of improving because of the caliber of talent involved.
Directors from the Apatow run-off stream such as David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express) and Adam McKay (Step Brothers, Anchorman) signed on to shoot the episodes. Eastbound & Down re-channels the R-rated Judd Apatow comedy mold into a TV show with greater creative freedom than NBC and FOX granted short-lived Apatow shows Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, respectively.
The broad potential of the basic plot permits McBride to throw around outrageous ideas and move in non sequitur directions. The series needs a few more outings to pool its talents and redirect itself from sinking south.
Grade: C+
