Veep is so funny, its like words are their second language.
Here is our review of Veep Season 4 episode 8.
I will say this up front.
There are scenes on tonightsVeepwhere every single line of dialogue is hysterically funny.
Running over the line that comes after but building to crescendos of hurricane proportions.
Mike McLintock is getting crucified on the hill, just like that Jesus guy.
Mike has an impossible job.
He got hammered on the presidents Mommy Meter bill, which is universally hated.
Hed fake his own death if he couldnt stick his wife with the brunch bill on her birthday.
Matt Walsh plays McLintock with a great humility, in spite of his successes.
McLintock has one of the most humiliating jobs in Washington.
Hes a spokesman, which means he doesnt get to say anything.
He ties a ribbon on Elvis ball sac and sells it as fine china.
He is the public mouthpiece for the leader of the free world.
President Meyer was a mouthpiece herself in the years before she entered politics.
And, to hear her tell it, she was a quite a piece.
Meyer and her posse had it going when they were young lawyers, women on the move.
They owned Annapolis and did it with power-T&A.
The president is planning a relaxing evening away from the usual gang of idiots.
Of course, the older gang of idiots is not remotely as comforting as her stressed out staff.
Tom James (Hugh Laurie) is too perfect a politician.
He is the in-touch-with-the-normal-guy guy.
He doesnt want to be that guy, but thats the kind of guy he is.
He rolls with the crew.
He shoots from the hip.
Tom James is perfect because he always runs the risk of going off script.
He is a loose cannon and voters and politicians alike respond to that.
As Ive said before, he approaches Mr. Spock in his powers of detached emotional dexterity.
Cole is one of the great set-up players.
His genius is that the audience has no idea whats coming.
Who knew his nervous I had not anticipated this.
This I had not anticipated, would be declared the worst Dr. Seuss title ever by Ben.
As Ben Caffrey, Kevin Dunn can do nothing wrong.
He throws his lines out like hes tired of having them on his plate.
He probably never hit a bad note in his career.
Dunn is a veteran of political movies likeAll the Kings Men.
Are we at war with clay?
Dan (Reid Scott) and Amys (Anna Chlumsky) are getting fitted for cement shoes.
Not quite the nut they want to bust, but it keeps the wheels of Washington greased.
Every room Gary (Tony Hale) is in is a panic room.
The Secret Service has to save the president twice in one day.
Such is the power of the Sufe Bradshaw.
If thats not scary enough, have you seen the sitting vice president?
Whether or not Selina can push this down the throats of her constituency remains to be seen.
Mo Gaffney, the presidents former alcoholic friend, is a veteran of uncomfortable comedy.
She played on the British sitcom Absolutely Fabulous as well as Mad About You and Friends.
Jonah (Timothy Simons) is having the most important meeting of his career.
His middle name is James) Splet reminds him, his calendar is ever-clear.
Whatever he has pending is unimportant.
In a fast-paced world like the political front lines, everyone is always running a little behind.
They always arrive after a very important detail has been unearthed by everyone in the world around them.
The characters are forever unprepared.
Richard and Jonah are unprepared even when they are fully in the present.
Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is at home onVeep.
She really is perfection in this role, even if nobody voted for her.
I hope shes never unseated, though I believe there will be an upset between her and Tom James.
Louis-Dreyfus doesnt exactly play but there are so many subtle things what shes doing that every situation is seismic.
She tells jokes with her words, hands, and eyelashes.
It keeps things forever in the moment and brings new dimension to impromptu.
Its kind of scary when you project this onto the day-to-day reality of real politics.
Mommy Meyer was directed by Chris Addison, story and teleplay by Georgia Pritchett and Will Smith.
Rating:
5 out of 5
