Mr. F (7 Nov. 2005)

The family's meeting with Japanese investors backfires big time when Tobias mistakes a real government agent for a talent agent. GOB tries to connect with his father, who is controlling a ... See full summary »

Director:

Arlene Sanford

Writers:

Mitchell Hurwitz (creator), Richard Day,

Stars:

Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, Will Arnett

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Jason Bateman	...	Michael Bluth
Portia de Rossi	...	Lindsay Bluth Fünke
Will Arnett	...	Gob Bluth
Michael Cera	...	George-Michael Bluth
Alia Shawkat	...	Maeby Fünke
Tony Hale	...	Buster Bluth
David Cross	...	Tobias Fünke
Jeffrey Tambor	...	George Bluth Sr.
Jessica Walter	...	Lucille Bluth
Charlize Theron	...	Rita
Dave Thomas	...	Trevor
Jeff Garlin	...	Mort Meyers
Bob Einstein	...	Larry
Scott Baio	...	Bob Loblaw
John Viener	...	Frank

Storyline

The family's meeting with Japanese investors backfires big time when Tobias mistakes a real government agent for a talent agent. GOB tries to connect with his father, who is controlling a Surrogate. Meanwhile, Michael has another encounter with Rita's uncle, and Maeby's romantic comedy is a total flop.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Release Date:

7 November 2005 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Stage 5, 20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Did You Know?

Trivia

Rita mentions that they shouldn't "cast Yanks as Brits in films 'cause you can always tell." This is probably a nod to both her (Charlize Theron) and Dave Thomas. While neither is American, she is South African and he's Canadian, they also aren't British despite playing them here and, just as Rita says, it is pretty easy to tell.

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Goofs

During the first board meeting, after Bob Loblaw reveals there may be a leak in the family, a boom mic is visible. Bob states that there may be a spy among them with a listening device, and the camera comically zooms in on the surrogate and a glimpse of the boom mic.

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Quotes

Byron "Buster" Bluth: If mother sees this, she will blow a cow!

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Connections

Spoofs Being John Malkovich (1999)

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Soundtracks

"Arrested Development"
Composed by David Schwartz
(opening theme)

User Reviews

Rita begins to overstay her welcome as AD suffers

Here's an episode I haven't seen in years, I probably last watched it in 2008. I tend to ignore this one because I consider it one of AD's weakest episodes, as the first parts of this episode have a low laugh count and in the end the show resorts to over-the-top absurdity with the jet pack. I really just felt a desire to watch this because I just saw the original Godzilla film, which Mr. F parodies.

Rita is revealed in this episode to be mentally disabled, and she's beginning to get tiresome. Five episodes in a season of only 13 episodes is just too much. Her laugh when the uncle shows her the "prize" is a cheap joke, really. The Tobias jokes also flop- he just seems gay, there doesn't seem to be many other ways to interpret his character here. Seasons 1 and 2 were brilliantly ambiguous this way, but certainly AD writers were feeling pressure from Fox to dumb down the show to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

Still, there's some great material in this episode. This includes GOB with some racial insensitivity (Japanese are squinters?) and Lucille's sharp quip about Michael plugging the British leak. Larry the surrogate also amusingly resorts to self-promotion in declaring himself to be worth every penny of his salary. This episode also draws attention to George Michael's fun and failure poster, and reveals what's underneath in a good call-back joke. This episode may have problems, but I have to admit it's more fun than failure.