Gary Unmarried: The Complete First Season DVD Review
Posted by Joseph Lee on 02.09.2010
I'm never getting married.
Starring:
*Jay Mohr as Gary Brooks
*Paula Marshall as Allison Brooks
*Ryan Malgarini as Tom Brooks
*Kathryn Newton as Louise Brooks
*Rob Riggle as Mitch Brooks
*Jaime King as Vanessa
*Ed Begley, Jr as Dr. Walter Krandall
*Al Madrigal as Dennis
*Max Gail as Jack Brooks
Story: Newly divorced after fifteen years of marriage, Gary Brooks, a painting contractor, strives to balance work, shared custody of his two children, a controlling ex-wife, and his foxy new girlfriend.
Trivia: The original title of the show was called "Project Gary". When it was revealed that it sounded too much like Project Runway, the producers decided to change the title.
I think a lot of people would agree that the standard sitcom with a live audience has almost gone the way of the dinosaur. Every popular comedy you see these days (The Office, 30 Rock) has abandoned an audience or a laugh track and that sitcom feel for something new. That doesn't stop CBS from routinely sticking to the basics with their lineup. Some of their shows are successes (How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory), some of them are flops (Accidentally On Purpose), and then you have shows like Gary Unmarried.
This sitcom is somewhere in the middle between the really good and the painfully bad. While it's enjoyable to watch and on occasion laugh-out-loud funny, it never really becomes anything more. It almost follows the prototype of how to make a sitcom to a tee, and it's the jokes that really make it worth watching. Otherwise there would be many other sitcoms both on DVD and television that you could watch and find the same experience. I'm not knocking the show for this. Sometimes it's good to stick to formula. But in a time where the formula you're going with is antiquated, it may be good to think outside the box a little too.
Gary Unmarried focuses on Gary, played by Jay Mohr. He's a divorced father of two, with a painting business and a nagging ex-wife who clashes with him so much you wonder how they ever got married to begin with. Mohr is funny in this role. Whether or not that's because of him or because the material was written so that he got all the funny lines is a different matter (I'm leaning towards a combination of both). But he carries this show with his wit and clever dialogue. He always seems to have a biting comment for someone regardless of the situation he's in. He makes a good leading man for this type of environment. I can buy him as this character and he manages to provide laughs at least once an episode.
Paula Marshall is the other half of this tumultuous divorce and she and Mohr have good chemistry. They constantly play off of each other for their spats and occasionally Allison is allowed to get some good lines in. Other times it's the standard "I faked every time and you have a small penis" stuff that you get in a lot of comedy of this type. I'd blame that on the writers, as she and Jay have the ability to work together well, regardless of the situation. I'd point out the episodes "Gary Goes First" and "Gary Uses His Veto" as great examples of this.
As with every sitcom, good or bad, you have kids. Gary Unmarried has two: the awkward son played by Ryan Malgarini and the exceptionally bright daughter played by Kathryn Newton. Both have their moments of being annoying and being a little entertaining. Malgarini is the most entertaining when he's playing off of Mohr. I enjoyed how the writers wrote his junior high problems with girls to match Jay's problems with women. Malgarini clearly watched Mohr's style of comedy before he committed to the role because when they are together you can tell he tries to match him. When he's by himself though he tends to flounder a bit. Kathryn Newton just isn't funny, but she's not unbearable either. She's the standard smart and cute daughter role.
In fact, the rest of the remaining characters aren't very funny except when they are in a scene with Mohr. This adds to my theory that while Mohr himself is funny, the material was clearly written to showcase his talents. None of the other cast members get any good jokes unless they are interacting with him and even then he usually gets the best ones. I'd say that it's the writing more than the talents of the cast. It's just unfair to the rest of the cast and unfair to the show. If it's not entertaining unless the star is on screen, then why not just leave him in every scene? Is there a fear of oversaturation? I don't know. But if you're not going to focus entirely on Mohr then the writers should have written better material for the other cast members because the audience is going to suffer.
At the end of watching all twenty episodes of Season One, I came to this conclusion about Gary Unmarried. It's funny at times, yes, but it's really no different from any other sitcom on television, or CBS. There are better shows, there are worse shows. It's just sort of there. It's a decent program but it fails to be anything more than an entertaining diversion. Some would argue that this is the perfect thing for a sitcom to be, but I like the ones that are hilarious and make me want to keep watching more. If I didn't watch another episode of Gary Unmarried again, it really wouldn't bother me. But if it was on I'd watch it and may even enjoy myself. It's good, but not great.
Film: 7.0
As something that was just on air last year, this is of course going to look good. It's not going to look as good as a cinematic film, but it's just fine for what it is. Who watches a sitcom expecting HD-level quality anyway? It's presented in widescreen with a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. There are the option of French and Spanish subtitles, but no captions in English, oddly enough.
Video: 7.5
Of course you shouldn't need captions because it sounds really good. No flaws here. Again, not perfect but good enough for the purposes of this show. The standard Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound is found here.
Audio: 7.5
You get four special features, totaling about a half hour in length combined. That's not much, but maybe it's quality over quantity.
The Chemistry of Comedy: A fifteen minute behind-the-scenes look at the show. Just interviews with the cast and a mention of the fact they use a live studio audience. Jay's kind of funny off-camera too as it shows him routinely trying to entertain the live audience. He also does a spot-on impression of Tracy Morgan. It's fluff, but it's entertaining fluff.
Planet Begley: Ed Begley, Jr gives us a tour of his eco-friendly house. He professes that he's not concerned about the environment, he's just cheap. It's still a pretty pointless feature.
Tuesday On The Set With Jay: Jay Mohr gives us a five minute tour of the set and obsesses over a very specific job of one of the crew members.
There is also a blooper reel, a Blu-Ray advertisement and a trailer for Old Dogs.
As you can see, the show doesn't get much in the way of extras and the extras themselves aren't very substantial.
Special Features: 5.0
The 411: Gary Unmarried is a decent sitcom that focuses on the talents of Jay Mohr and no one else. When he's on screen it tends to be funnier than when he is not. But there are plenty of other sitcoms that are better than this good, if by-the-numbers offering from CBS. The special features are very short and don't have much to what you do get. This DVD gets a mild recommendation but if you're really curious about the show, just watch the reruns. Don't waste your money unless you're a fan.
