I'm going to avoid the irony here by steering clear of pretentiously reviewing 'Huff', the self-aware trendy title that forebodes the show's predictability, lack of inventiveness and genuine emotions. Above all, 'Huff' remains the little engine that couldn't. One can experience the creator's (Bob Lowry) ambition and goals slowly fade away, likely due to an overdose of people putting in ideas. 7 directors? Really??!! "Huff" contains a lot of ingredients out of which a creative mind could fashion a great television drama. The first few episodes the faults are hard to find in a murky sea of outrageously over the top, contrived plot lines and a large amount of (intentionally?)unlikeable characters. But watching a great deal of episodes in a row quickly makes the concrete faults bubble up to the surface: semi-intellectualism and manipulation.
Faithful fans of the similar, horrifying and unwatchable 'Grey's Anatomy' and other air pollution, will certainly gobble this up, however I don't like to be spoon fed. Life is hard and if somehow you feel yours seems like less of a mess by watching talking props having an even harder time...be my guest. But don't be naive and pertain to the notion that 'Huff' is genuine in it's emotional scenes or tasteful in it's attempts at comedy. 'Huff' never slows down long enough for people to realize they're conned into feeling something for narcissistic, overbearing, smug, hypocritical and - above all - cold characters. The writers opt for the use of new dramatic events every episode, instead of working out plot lines properly and letting characters evolve, it's like one of those car wrecks where cars keep slamming into one car and end up in a pile-up of twenty cars and you can't even tell what exactly happened but boy, if it isn't dramatic.
It's gratuitous nudity and other R-rated content doesn't help either. I have nothing against nudity in film, but who in the world ever thought a woman sticking her finger up a man's a.. is a hoot. If you want that kind of sexual, no boundaries humor, but executed with more taste and god forbid a sense of humor, watch 'Californication' instead. This is the last straw for 'Huff'. Even the flamboyantly funny Oliver Platt can't save it from being a train wreck. The only enjoyable moments come from him and the interactions he has with some of the other more likable characters such as his secretary or the clueless Kelly. His character and the schizo Teddy are the only two characters that made me want to watch the last season 2 episodes. 'Huff' contains just that handful of interesting stories to make me mourn the waste of them. Teddy finding love despite his illness aroused my interest, and Tupper's run in with Sharon Stone's character surprised me as well. Perhaps the most interesting segments of all were the interactions with Anjelica Huston's delightful (and wonderfully portrayed) character, the fellow shrink (who, I must say, is thrice the shrink 'Huff' is) There are plenty of terrible ones too that should never have seen the light of day. Who honestly cares about miraculous healing from cancer(which I'm sure angered a lot of people who had the bad luck of coming in contact with the big C), the badly acted character of Paula(the religious nut with her stone-age beliefs and the self-righteousness to boot), or the whole Mexico fiasco? Who ever understood the necessity of the spat between 'Huff' and his wife. They're both so unreasonable and demanding, how are they ever going to work their issues out in a healthy way? I feel the writers are almost blessed not having to solve those puzzles.
Faithful fans of the similar, horrifying and unwatchable 'Grey's Anatomy' and other air pollution, will certainly gobble this up, however I don't like to be spoon fed. Life is hard and if somehow you feel yours seems like less of a mess by watching talking props having an even harder time...be my guest. But don't be naive and pertain to the notion that 'Huff' is genuine in it's emotional scenes or tasteful in it's attempts at comedy. 'Huff' never slows down long enough for people to realize they're conned into feeling something for narcissistic, overbearing, smug, hypocritical and - above all - cold characters. The writers opt for the use of new dramatic events every episode, instead of working out plot lines properly and letting characters evolve, it's like one of those car wrecks where cars keep slamming into one car and end up in a pile-up of twenty cars and you can't even tell what exactly happened but boy, if it isn't dramatic.
It's gratuitous nudity and other R-rated content doesn't help either. I have nothing against nudity in film, but who in the world ever thought a woman sticking her finger up a man's a.. is a hoot. If you want that kind of sexual, no boundaries humor, but executed with more taste and god forbid a sense of humor, watch 'Californication' instead. This is the last straw for 'Huff'. Even the flamboyantly funny Oliver Platt can't save it from being a train wreck. The only enjoyable moments come from him and the interactions he has with some of the other more likable characters such as his secretary or the clueless Kelly. His character and the schizo Teddy are the only two characters that made me want to watch the last season 2 episodes. 'Huff' contains just that handful of interesting stories to make me mourn the waste of them. Teddy finding love despite his illness aroused my interest, and Tupper's run in with Sharon Stone's character surprised me as well. Perhaps the most interesting segments of all were the interactions with Anjelica Huston's delightful (and wonderfully portrayed) character, the fellow shrink (who, I must say, is thrice the shrink 'Huff' is) There are plenty of terrible ones too that should never have seen the light of day. Who honestly cares about miraculous healing from cancer(which I'm sure angered a lot of people who had the bad luck of coming in contact with the big C), the badly acted character of Paula(the religious nut with her stone-age beliefs and the self-righteousness to boot), or the whole Mexico fiasco? Who ever understood the necessity of the spat between 'Huff' and his wife. They're both so unreasonable and demanding, how are they ever going to work their issues out in a healthy way? I feel the writers are almost blessed not having to solve those puzzles.