Mr. Corman Overview: Apple’s Ballad of a Bored White Man Simply Sounds Whiny

Effectively, Mr. Corman is definitely Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s imaginative and prescient. Not solely does the actor star within the new Apple TV+ dramedy — in his first common TV position since he was a wisecracking teen alien on third Rock From the Solar — however he additionally serves as creator, author, director and govt producer on the challenge. So actually, he has nobody in charge right here however himself.

Mr. Corman (debuting this Friday, Aug. 6; I’ve seen the primary three episodes) tries to take us contained in the thoughts of a dissatisfied white man going through an existential disaster, however the finish result’s extra whiny and self-indulgent than insightful. It takes huge possibilities at occasions, however these principally fall flat; it seems like a tough draft that wanted one other go and some extra units of eyes on it.

Gordon-Levitt stars as Josh Corman, a thirtysomething fifth-grade trainer who’s deeply sad together with his life and desires to do one thing extra, one thing completely different. He was a musician, however he hasn’t picked up an instrument in years, and that missed alternative haunts him at each flip. (“The one individuals who turn out to be academics are individuals who needed to do one thing else and gave up,” a lady snidely informs him.) He’s broke, he’s lonely, he’s anxious and he’s surrounded by faux mates yammering about creating “content material” and turning into “verified.” Plus, he’s consistently attempting to not offend anybody by saying or doing the improper factor — by being a typical white man, mainly.

The issue is that there’s not rather more to Mr. Corman than Josh moping round. The present feels as aimless as its lead character is, and it’s arduous to pin down what it’s attempting to say, precisely. Josh begins having panic assaults, and he’s disconnected from everybody else in his life, so we’re caught inside his head… and that’s not a pleasing place to be. (“The world is totally f—ked,” he cheerfully muses at one level.) Broad Metropolis‘s Arturo Castro performs his roommate Victor, and Debra Winger performs his judgmental mother, but it surely’s principally simply Josh on his personal, and the episodes really feel claustrophobic consequently. Josh does begin to decide up his devices and take a look at music once more, which is a promising story angle — however that’s fleeting, and it’s not lengthy earlier than he’s again to moping once more.

Mr. Corman comes from A24, a manufacturing firm recognized for daring, boundary-pushing fare, and this does have an indie, idiosyncratic really feel to it, with quirky music, jittery handheld camerawork and animated detours. Nevertheless it lacks focus, as if Gordon-Levitt had 100 completely different concepts scribbled down in his pocket book and tried to cram all of them into one present. And when it goals excessive and will get bizarre, it will get actually bizarre: In what needs to be one of many strangest TV scenes of the yr, Episode three ends with a fantastical song-and-dance quantity that includes Josh and his mother singing an authentic duet about moms and sons. Like… huh?

I did respect these glimmers of one thing greater and extra formidable — we may use extra proudly bizarre TV reveals, frankly — however the bizarre bits are by no means fairly built-in right into a cohesive story. (The song-and-dance quantity doesn’t work, for instance, as a result of it’s to this point faraway from Josh’s relationship together with his mom as we’ve recognized it to that time.) Mr. Corman is billed as a “comedy,” someway, but it surely’s lacking the laughs. It appears to be going for cringe comedy, however we simply find yourself cringing. I felt extra unhappy watching it than something. Finally, Josh’s lack of path and gloomy worldview are an anchor that drags the narrative momentum to a halt. Perhaps he’ll begin to determine issues out by season’s finish… however who desires to stay round to search out out?

THE TVLINE BOTTOM LINE: Mr. Corman is a depressing, indulgent portrait of a tragic white man that by no means offers us a very good motive to care — or to look at.