Starring: Emma Stone, Nathan Fielder, Benny Safdie, Corbin Bernsen, Barkhad Abdi
The Curse is uneven and at times a slog, but then there are also enough good aspects to warrant continued viewing. It's a frustrating show with stops and starts in its rhythm, with protagonists who appear to be hanging on by a thread hosting a reality show in which they flip houses in the obscure town of Espanola, New Mexico. The local Native American tribe wants to exert influence over the proceedings by forcing prospective buyers to support the local tribe unequivocally and sign a document stating so. What does this mean? Who knows, but it isn't promising. It's painful listening to co-host Whitney Siegel (Stone) try to sell this document to buyers ready to close who will eventually back out because they've never heard anything so ludicrous.
The Siegels encounter myriad issues in the first five episodes, including husband Asher's (Fielder) small penis which causes the couple to find creative ways to satisfy Whitney, the troubled past of the show's producer Doug (Safdie), who has a history of DUI, Whitney's unscrupulous real estate mogul parents from whom she tries to distance herself, and the question of whether their house-flipping show will even be picked up for a season. Asher, who could play Ray Romano if a biopic was ever made about him, is awkward in almost every facet of his being. Words tumble out of his mouth, while Whitney is far more direct and eloquent.
Oh, and there is the business of The Curse, which is placed on Asher by a young homeless child after he gives her a $100 bill on camera and then tries to take it back when the camera shuts off. It is just another of Asher's endless attempts to help the show which goes horribly wrong. Is there a curse? The child, her sister, and their father (Abdi-from Captain Phillips) are soon squatting in one of the properties the Siegels wish to flip, and Asher sees this as a way to have the curse lifted, if there is one.
There is plenty going on, but the pacing is off. Most of the characters, if not all, are amoral and shady. Whitney soon becomes full of unearned, insufferable virtue as she looks for "the right people" to buy their houses. Asher tries to make things better to no avail. Doug sinks further into depression while trying to keep the show, his only reason for living, afloat. Stone is able to inject even soggy material with life, and she is forced to do so a lot in The Curse. Fielder is effectively off-putting and put-upon while he struggles to articulate his anger. The performances work, the show only partly so, but like Michael Corleone states, "Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in,"
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