HBO
As dismal because the Los Angeles Lakers’ present 2021-2022 marketing campaign, Profitable Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty is assured to show the stomachs of not solely Boston Celtics followers, however anybody hoping for greater than an egregiously cartoonish and ham-fisted hagiography executed with all of the subtlety of a no-look cross to the nuts. Corny, superficial and severely stuffed with itself, HBO’s eight-part sequence (March 6) desires to be each an unabashed celebration and an advanced examine of flawed characters. Nevertheless, within the arms of creators Max Borenstein and Jim Hecht, and govt producer and director Adam McKay (Don’t Look Up), it performs as a fictionalized fanboy tackle a beloved franchise, marked by mounds of apparent exposition, unbearably cringe-worthy aesthetics, and a gentle stream of literal winking on the digital camera that’s then embellished by cutesy “ding!” sound results.
Based mostly on Jeff Pearlman’s e-book Showtime,the present does nearly nothing proper in recounting the primary two-thirds of the Lakers’ 1979-1980 season—and sure, the truth that it doesn’t even get all through Earvin “Magic” Johnson’s (Quincy Isaiah) rookie 12 months is certainly one of its many points (ESPN’s 10-episode Chicago Bulls docuseries The Final Dance is downright environment friendly by comparability). Chief amongst its shortcomings is its preternaturally ugly aesthetics. To realize a interval veneer, McKay and firm douse all the things in muddy colours and extreme movie grain, and subsequently exacerbate that disagreeable look by often, and haphazardly, switching to grainier 16mm-esque movie inventory to recommend, properly, who is aware of the aim of such a meaningless gimmick. There’s occasional animation and cheeky on-screen textual content too, the latter showing each time McKay indulges in certainly one of his typical jokey freeze frames. Throw in a set of horrid wigs, goofy facial hair and garish outfits, and the result's arguably the least enticing present on tv.
Sadly, Profitable Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty’s clumsy type doesn’t finish there. McKay, Borenstein and Hecht have their principals repeatedly break the fourth wall in an effort to narrate their very own story and knowingly smile and smirk on the digital camera, thereby including an extra layer of hyper-aware artificiality. On the heart of its story is Dr. Jerry Buss (John C. Reilly), a real-estate magnate who units out to purchase and revitalize the Lakers franchise by turning it into a mirrored image of himself: an achieved however sleazy horndog whose favourite pastimes are touting his personal greatness, sticking it to any and all adversaries, and sleeping with as many Playboy Playmates because the day will enable. Buss loves his mom Jessie (Sally Discipline), a domineering accountant, in addition to his daughter Jeanie (Hadley Robinson), who’s getting in on the bottom flooring of the Lakers operation, and is destined to in the future run it. As enthusiastically embodied by Reilly—the present’s sole standout—he’s a visionary who alone sees the mint to be produced from reworking the Lakers right into a glitzy, glamorous Showtime spectacular.
Buss’ companion in attaining that dream is Magic, the Michigan State phenom whose massive smile and flashy play are central to the Lakers’ ‘80s DNA. As with Buss, Profitable Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty fawns over Magic, portrayed by Isaiah as a gregarious showman who’s rightly satisfied that he’s particular. On the similar time, although, the present additionally depicts each of its protagonists as cocky me-first lotharios who can’t maintain it of their pants, whatever the ache and distress it causes their family members—particularly Magic’s oft-betrayed childhood paramour (and future spouse) Cookie (Tamera Tomakili). Determined to be extra than simply an effusive love letter, the sequence tries to have its cake and eat it too by lionizing Buss and Magic whereas concurrently censuring them for his or her serial two-timing, not realizing that each tacks make them come throughout as unbearably smug creeps.
Parental points are in all places in Profitable Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, not solely with Buss (whose cherished mother is a handful) and Magic (whose mom is a judgmental ball-breaker), but additionally with Pat Riley (Adrien Brody), right here imagined as a stork-like doofus nonetheless smarting over his imply daddy and desperate to get his foot within the door as a coach. He does, ultimately, courtesy of Paul Westhead (Jason Segel), who turns into a Lakers assistant as soon as the workforce hires strategic genius Jack McKinney (Tracy Letts) as its head coach and takes over that lead place as soon as McKinney suffers a horrible bike accident. Brody is caught taking part in an embarrassing clown; in that respect, he’s in high quality firm, since nearly everybody else is as properly, be it Rory Cochrane as UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian, Segel as namby-pamby Westhead, or Sean Patrick Small as Larry Fowl and Michael Chiklis as Pink Auerbach, all of them diminished to coarse Halloween-costumed caricatures—which is in line with drama that levels each dilemma and battle for max one-dimensional campiness.
Profitable Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty posits Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Solomon Hughes) as a realized man whose delinquent sullenness is a byproduct of racial and non secular discrimination (his conversion to Islam is offered, in flashback, as a response to a white cop killing a Black child, for preferrred timeliness). But that doesn’t stop him from resonating as a chilly jerk. The sequence’ best contempt, nevertheless, is reserved for Lakers legend Jerry West (Jason Clarke), who’s offered as a Looney Tunes-ish rageaholic so mad about his skilled failures (most of them to the Celtics) that he by no means stops throwing insane man-child tantrums. This isn’t a completely fashioned characterization of an all-time nice; it’s a malicious portrayal of a person who gained titles for the workforce as each a participant and, later, as a normal supervisor, and it seems like a direct extension of the horrible remedy West has acquired from the workforce in recent times.
So terrible is Profitable Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty that that is the conclusion of my assessment, and I’ve barely talked about that its gameplay motion is monotonous and phony (it’s all alley-oops and fancy passes), its inter-squad squabbling is pedestrian, and its season-long narrative is distended to such a laughable diploma that, after eight episodes, it finishes with out even attending to the 1980 NBA Playoffs! Borenstein, Hecht and McKay apparently imagine that the behind-the-scenes minutia of the Lakers is infinitely fascinating, to not point out groundbreaking (irrespective of that the true revolutionary, Michael Jordan, was nonetheless on the horizon). But no less than throughout its maiden season, their present reveals nothing greater than G League-grade abilities.