Vince Vaughn’s Apple TV+ Series Has Great Vibes

To carry a title from children’ novelist Wilson Rawls, this has turn into the Summer time of the Monkeys.

Earlier than we get to HBO’s Chimp Loopy and Netflix’s Secret Lives of Orangutans, devotees of the simian arts shall be handled to Apple TV+’s Unhealthy Monkey, a Carl Hiaasen adaptation from the streamer’s comedy patron saint, Invoice Lawrence (Ted Lasso, Shrinking).

Opposite to the present and novel’s title, the eponymous monkey isn’t, actually, dangerous. Performed by veteran animal thespian Crystal — you recognize her from Group, Mates and extra — she is, actually, fairly good, dependable for reactive cutaways or wild, furry hijinks. She (truly, Crystal is enjoying a personality who appears to determine as male, however we aren’t happening the trail of monkey pronouns right here) doesn’t at all times really feel significantly related to the plot of Unhealthy Monkey, nevertheless it’s charming and enjoyable simply to have her round.

And that just about sums up my sense of Unhealthy Monkey: As a thriller, or a semi-thriller, it doesn’t work in any respect; its twists and turns are clumsily executed, its stakes are flimsy and, particularly within the finale, its storylines are unconvincingly resolved. It’s, nevertheless, wry, easygoing and sunbaked in a method that appropriately mirrors Hiaasen’s tone. With an excellent solid led by Vince Vaughn, Natalie Martinez, Michelle Monaghan and Jodie Turner-Smith, plus an impeccable eye for Florida places, that is an agreeable strategy to spend 10 hours. 

And did I point out the monkey?

Vaughan performs Andrew Yancy, a former Miami detective shipped right down to the Keys after a scandal and given the ignominious title of restaurant inspector. Yancy has a dogged dedication to the reality and a complete lack of self-preservation instincts, which impresses and irritates his pal and former associate Rogelio (John Ortiz).

Professionally, issues aren’t nice for Yancy, however he’s acquired an ideal cottage on a picturesque stretch of seaside, plus a feisty if enigmatic girlfriend (Monaghan’s Bonnie), so he’s content material.

Interrupting that contentment are the slick developer (Alex Moffatt’s Evan) placing up a monstrous McMansion subsequent door to Yancy’s pad and a severed arm that Yancy has been tasked with driving as much as Miami. The arm belongs to the husband of Eve (Meredith Hagner), whose grief Yancy finds unconvincing sufficient that he and saucy medical expert Rosa (Martinez) start an investigation.

They’re proper to be suspicious, as a result of Eve is related to shady Christopher (Rob Delaney), one other developer, who’s attempting to purchase up property in a sleepy city within the Bahamas. It’s there that we meet Neville (Ronald Peet), a Bahamian fisherman who shares Yancy’s need for the straightforward life and is keen to do something — together with enlisting the Obeah-practicing priestess know because the Dragon Queen (Turner-Smith) — to guard the island’s purity. 

Oh, and Neville has a monkey (Crystal) who loves grapes and funerals.

The story is all narrated by a salty, Jimmy Buffett-esque constitution boat captain (Tom Nowicki), and expands to embody an ensemble of eccentrics together with Charlotte Lawrence as Eve’s flighty stepdaughter; Zach Braff as a sleazy physician with the unlikely title of Israel O’Peele; David St. Louis as a soulful thug referred to as Egg; Ashley Nicole Black as a sarcastic authorities agent; and Misplaced veteran L. Scott Caldwell because the Dragon Queen’s grandmother, Ya-Ya.

For a couple of episodes, the narrator bridges the Florida/Bahamas plotlines, constantly promising that it’s all one story although the fusion is rarely elegant. A “reveal” on the finish of the primary episode doesn’t truly reveal something resembling what the present thinks it reveals, and one other on the finish of the third episode is extra complicated than satisfying. There may be, normally, a battle of sensibilities between director Marcos Siega’s flashier, glossier, darker instincts and the writing workforce’s looser and lighter strengths. The previous contingent approaches Unhealthy Monkey prefer it’s alleged to be an edge-of-your-seat present, when it actually feels prefer it’s meant to be watched whereas leaning way back to humanly attainable in a pastel-painted Adirondack. As a result of when it’s simply characters bantering, the sequence may be pleasant. 

The interaction between Vaughn, a bit too previous for the position and but successfully roguish, and Martinez, buoyant and flirtatious in a method she’s hardly ever displayed, is completely interesting. Plus Monaghan comes out and in of the story with that depraved glint in her eye that has been so underutilized since Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, bringing actual sizzle to a semi-love-triangle. 

Hagner, mixing candy and strychnine, is channeling classic Goldie Hawn, which is even higher if you recognize that her mother-in-law is … Goldie Hawn. Her bubbly vitality has an ideal foil in Delaney, so tall and so glum.

The Bahamas aspect of the story is, regardless of the presence of the titular monkey, extra dramatic, outlined by Peet’s low-key sincerity and Turner-Smith’s fierce depth. These two performers get moments of characterization that don’t have anything to do with homicide and scheming. However does Unhealthy Monkey have any perception into, say, touristic exploitation of the Bahamas or Obeah traditions? No. 

The present by no means fairly nails Hiaasen’s satirical edge, his very particular perspective on Florida’s grifters and interlopers, settling for gentle mockery of corrupt establishments and the nouveau riche. It’s all floor, however when the floor is this beautiful — white-sand seashores, glowing blue water, condensation glistening on a chilly beer — chances are you’ll very effectively be completely happy to spend a while on it.