There is a lot of good inside Bad Monkey. The new Apple TV+ series immediately immerses viewers in its playful noir tale set in Florida. Vince Vaughn, known for Wedding Crashers, is the star and brings an easy-going air to the show that allows it a certain creative edge. Based on Carl Hiaasen’s bestseller, Bad Monkey combines Vaughn’s magnetism (and producing credits) with Bill Lawrence’s character-building skills as seen on Ted Lasso and Scrubs. It knows how to captivate.
Many of Hiaasen’s novels also contain unusual characters. However, this adaptation does not have any extended presence of such individuals. These people could have been turned into an over-the-top motley bunch but two things save the day: mystery and how much one can relate to them.
Andrew Yancy (played by Vince Vaughn), forever revered for his roles in Swingers and Curb Your Enthusiasm among other movies, is portrayed as a hot-blooded detective who now works as a restaurant inspector in South Florida following his demotion. His ego takes a severe blow but (wait for it!) when a tourist discovers a severed arm from her fishing boat out on the water, Yancy cannot help but get involved. Suddenly he is thrust into the waters filled with greed and corruption that threaten the ecosystems of the area.
The cast also includes Michelle Monaghan (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), Jodie Turner-Smith (Queen and Slim), Meredith Hagner (Search Party), Natalie Martinez (La Promesa del Returno), L. Scott Caldwell (The Fugitive), Ronald Peet (First Reformed), John Ortiz (Fast and Furious), Alex Moffat (SNL) along with Tom Nowicki who will be playing as himself while being one of two narrators for this show. And there’s even an ape around somewhere too – they call her Driggs, but in real life she’s Crystal and has been in the business longer than some of her younger cast members. All together they create something that is both fun and thought-provoking.
It also benefits from being helmed by great directors. One of them is Marcos Siega who is known for Dexter; the second one is Liz Friedlander (Conviction); third, Colin Bucksey (Fargo) and finally, Erica Dunton along with Sam Jones who directed Ted Lasso. That’s an impressive team that does justice to the series despite a few moments where the story strays off course. You will also forgive many similar setups in most episodes: Yancy chases after something, Yancy talks to someone, Yancy gets yelled at, Yancy overcomes a big obstacle. Joseph Campbell would approve.
In this sense, it could be said that Yancy’s journey involves trying to clean up a giant mess. He wants to know how a severed arm with its middle finger sticking out ended up floating in the water like that. This leads him right into snooty medical examiner Rosa (Martinez), who rolls her eyes when Yancy tries his charm on her. Gradually he convinces her to join him on his potential investigation even though he was told no initially. The pairing of Vaughn with Natalie Martinez works well enough here and provides some new chemistry for these actors onscreen too. It’s smooth and cool just seeing if this couple can solve what may be an intricate murder mystery or not.
However, Monaghan’s Bonnie is hyperactive within the days passing. She can’t pick up the pieces of a broken marriage from an old flame of Yancy’s. Monaghan offers a dark take on Bonnie, a tormented soul, and it would have been great to see her given even more in this episode. Alex Moffat is delightful as Yancy’s irritating doctor across the hall who has just moved into his new but weirdly garish canary yellow home which mars otherwise serene shores. In fact, that real estate thread runs through the tale. However, there will be some funny moments between Vaughn and Moffat while some other characters in the series are grappling with weighty issues affecting local communities.
On that note we also have Neville (Peet), a resident trying to survive as outsiders and tourists try staking their claims and creating new real estate developments in town. As a matter of fact Neville owns the monkey whose name gives this film its title. The Dragon Queen (Turner-Smith, well cast) is presented as an enigmatic voodoo priestess. The showrunner had some fun with it though teasing if at times this noir could get supernatural in various interludes. It all comes down to how much has changed here among the locals over these decades-old grooves.
Meredith Hagner may end up being one of this program’s best scene-stealers. She plays Eve, a woman whose life seems to have fallen apart around her ears. It is really best not say more than that for sheer delight lies simply in whether or not they do come together on one journey shared by Eve, Yancy and Rosa towards finding potential killers and reason behind demise et cetera . Overall, Vaughn got what Bill Lawrence was going for with this show: Florida vibes; That strange looseness like wearing your clothes too comfortably by an ocean under sunlit beaches; An energetic affair that sustains its pace even as the tension builds slowly and suspensefully.
It is refreshing to feel like this one is in control all the way through and that these characters, no matter how wild, seem real. The show could have been compressed into a single episode to achieve an endgame. Still, if you’re a fan of Vince Vaughn who appreciates quirky adventures, then this is your next stop.
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