Got It

Get Shorty was a fun movie.  An enforcer for organized crime who likes movies comes to Hollywood and discovers his skills make him perfect for show biz.  I've never read the Elmore Leonard novel it's based on, but the film was well-written, directed and acted.

But that was 25 (!) years ago.  I couldn't see how Epix would turn it into a series.  But the first season, released in 2017, really worked.  Instead of John Travolta as the enforcer and Gene Hackman as the hapless producer, you had Chris O'Dowd and Ray Romano.  The basic concept was the same, but the particulars were all changed--in this story, O'Dowd finds a great script written by someone who was murdered and figures he can use it to break into movies.  O'Dowd's character, Miles Daly, is at turns charming and thuggish.  And, unlike Travolta in the movie, he's got domestic problems.  (The movie had Danny DeVito as "Shorty" the movie star.  In the TV show, O'Dowd calls his daughter shorty.)

There was constant tension, trying to get a movie made while also satisfying his employer and keeping the authorities from finding out what's going on.  I recently watched seasons 2 and 3, however, and thought they didn't manage to keep it at the same level.

Essentially it's the same story.  Maybe a new movie to be made, but a constant struggle to keep things going.  And, worse, the show got a lot darker.  I'd call the movie, and the first season of the show, a comedy.  But it's harder to call it that when the main characters are so ruthless and brutal.

Also, while O'Dowd's A-story still has some nice twists, the B-story, dealing with Ray Romano's relationship with crime boss Amara, grows tiresome. I admit I did watch the show all the way through, so how bad can it be?  But the bloom is off the rose.

PS  One of the regulars is Sarah Stiles as a production assistant who wants to be a performer.  In the show her character actually gets a job on Broadway in the musical Tootsie--we even get to see her do a number.  This is the same Sarah Stiles who actually starred in the recent musical Tootsie on Broadway, so I guess they made that work. (She looked pretty good in the role--I'm not surprised she was nominated for a Tony.)