Clear History

Originally posted to the DMI Review on 8/13/13

Curb Lite

by Hunter Isham

        Larry David doesn't know if he wants to do another season of his hilarious HBO comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm, so while we anxiously wait for him to decide, he's delivered a fun and funny movie for the masses to enjoy in the meantime. Co-written by and starring David, Clear History is the story of Nathan Flomm (David), a marketing executive who leaves an electric car company just before it becomes a massive success, missing out on billions and living with the public humiliation. Ten years later, he's changed his look and lives under a new name on Martha's Vineyard, but he's driven to revenge when his former business partner shows up on the island with a young attractive wife to oversee the construction of a brand new mansion. David and his Curb and Seinfeld co-writers, Alec Berg, David Mandel, and Jeff Schaffer, along with director Greg Mottola, have crafted a story only David's television alter ego could inhabit, and so while it's true that Clear History isn't much more than an extended Curb episode with a lot of fresh faces, I don't think I'd want it any other way.
        David is great at playing his usual TV persona under the name of Nathan Flomm, although he does a very nice job of trying to balance his less palatable characteristics (the ones that get him into trouble as Flomm) with a more subdued, passive approach to unfiltered complaining and commenting. As we soon learn, Flomm's Rolly Da Vore is the nicest guy on the island, but seeing his old boss brings out the old LD that Curb audiences know, and we start getting moments like him complaining to the owner of the local diner about putting silverware on napkins instead of a tabletop cleaned with rags. She gets more indignant as he gets more satisfied with making a suggestion he likely kept locked away for a decade. A cause for concern one might have with leaving the Curb cast behind for this endeavor is that David might lose his wonderful improvisational co-stars (the script, like on Curb, is more of a detailed story outline that the actors fill with their own improvised dialogue), but the many talents corralled for Clear History prove to be welcome additions to this world and sensibility.
        Jon Hamm plays the Ayn Rand-loving Will Haney, the head of the company whom Flomm insults when he insists their new car cannot be called 'Howard,' a name also give to Haney's son, and derived from the main character in Rand's The Fountainhead. Hamm has proven his comedic chops alongside Tina Fey on 30 Rock, but here he plays a perfect straight man to David, even more so as the film advances in time. Danny McBride very effectively fills the shoes of Curb's Jeff Garlin as David's best friend and partner in crime, the man who introduces Flomm to a crazy operator of the quarry (a very funny Michael Keaton) and his employee (Bill Hader), a pair that will ultimately play into Flomm's quest for revenge. Kate Hudson, playing a fairly sweet character, is well-suited to her role as Haney's wife, but ultimately has only a few hilarious moments (she's generally a straight man here). Amy Ryan and Eva Mendes have some great moments as two locals and friends of David's character, and they accentuate the plot in some great comedic scenes. Liev Schreiber is an uncredited standout as a Chechen thug with a sensible and sensitive approach to his professional and personal lives, while J.B. Smoove and Philip Baker Hall are the only Curb personalities to show up, and they deliver as one would expect.
        For all of the wonderful comedic performances in Clear History, and the unmistakable and hilarious sensibilities of Larry David, the film doesn't quite hit as well as your average episode of David's series. The only thing that holds it back from being as excellent as the best of Curb is that it's telling a full blown story. Rather than giving us the beautifully arranged, dovetailing beats that David and his writers perfectly honed on Seinfeld and Curb, we get some true character moments thrown into the mix. Now, don't misunderstand; Clear History is still fairly entrenched in the Larry David school of "no hugging, no learning," but the man who's helped create two shows about nothing has delivered a movie that is actually about something, and it can't stand up against movies that strive to be what Clear History is by circumstance. With all that in mind, David's first HBO movie delivers in big, zany ways that Curb doesn't because of its relatively small focus episode-to-episode, and for that slight change of pace I'm thankful. Like Woody Allen and his own onscreen persona, Larry David will likely always be playing Larry David, but I don't really care as long he's funny, and that's exactly what he is here. Clear History isn't perfect, but as Larry himself might say, it's pretty, pretty, pretty... pretty good. 8/10


Note: If you're wondering what the title Clear History means (as I did before I read an article explaining it), it refers to how one can erase their web browsing history on a computer, the kind of act Nathan Flomm wishes he could do to his life.