"Curb Your Enthusiasm" The N Word (2007)

User Rating:

8.4/10   

Director:

Tom Kramer

Writers:

Larry David (creator)
Larry David (story)

TV Series:

"Curb Your Enthusiasm" (2000)

Original Air Date:

28 October 2007 (Season 6, Episode 8)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Larry goes to the hospital to see his new girlfriend, an orthopedist. While in the bathroom, Larry overhears one end of a very angry...

Plot Keywords:

Sitcom | Actor Playing Himself | Vulgarity | Handheld Camera | Cult Favorite

Cast

Larry David	...	Himself
Jeff Garlin	...	Jeff Greene
Cheryl Hines	...	Cheryl David (archive footage)
Susie Essman	...	Susie Greene
Ben Stiller	...	Himself
Vivica A. Fox	...	Loretta Black
J.B. Smoove	...	Leon Black
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jerry August	...	Board Member #1
Rachel Boston	...	Waitress
Randy Brion	...	Conductor - Montage
Wren T. Brown	...	Dr. Page (as Wren Brown)
Laurel Coppock	...	Patient
Ellia English	...	Auntie Rae Black
Trish Gates	...	Trish, Dr. Flomm's Sister
Irwin Goodwyn	...	Board Member #2
Barry Gordan	...	Rabbi - Montage
Cady Huffman	...	Herself - Montage
Carla Jeffery	...	Keysha Black
Jake M. Johnson	...	Man on cell phone (as Jake Johnson)
Phil LaMarr	...	Pharmacist
Joseph Limbaugh	...	Joe, Dr. Flomm's Brother
Nick Nervies	...	Daryl
Richard Penn	...	Board Member #3
Brenda Strong	...	Dr. Susan Flomm
Tracy Thorpe	...	Woman in hallway
Steve Tom	...	Board Member #1
Jean Villepique	...	Nurse

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Jeff and Larry are eating lunch in the hospital cafeteria. Larry orders an iced tea, but the drink he receives is yellow/orange in color - looks like orange juice and is clearly not iced tea.

"Curb" follows the path of other successful sitcoms: down!

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

It is a shame that a once great show has fallen into the pattern that besets so many shows after they've creatively peaked. That is, many shows descend into annoying mediocrity when they start lazily incorporating weak and obvious comedic ideas and the actors' neuroses are overly exaggerated to the point that they are not only annoying but unlikeable. I can't help but sympathize with Cheryl in last week's episode when she said, and I'm paraphrasing, "Larry, people ask me why I stay with you and I tell them that you have another side. Well, Larry, the truth is, you HAVE NO other side"

**Spoiler Ahead!** This episode while having a few extremely funny sight gags(a bald Jeff...brilliant!, the living room of a doctor arranged like the doctor's waiting room) often resorts to predictable situations, e.g. a passerby overhearing Larry use the forbidden "N-Word" out of context, Larry unable to read a doctor's scrawl which undoubtedly contains something important, Larry hugging the most visually unappealing cast member and getting an erection, etc.

So I can't tell if the real-life actor/writer Larry David has basically exhausted "plumbing the depths" of his neuroses for a seventh season and is just getting by, reusing old ideas without telling us anything new or whether there "really is no other side to Larry".