From Bill Lawrence, the creator of Scrubs, and Ted Lasso, comes the Apple TV+ series Bad Monkey starring Vince Vaughn, adapted from Carl Hiaasen’s 2013 bestselling novel. This colorful, sun-drenched modern detective mystery features a delightfully playful cast of characters and a role perfectly suited for its leading man’s talents.
The story follows Miami cop Andrew Yancy (Vaughn). He spends his days in The Florida Keys waiting out a job suspension as he enjoys an ocean view with a stiff drink in his favorite chair. Yancy is snarky, but mostly good-natured. People tend to exhaust him, but he’s good with them and cares with a moral sense of justice. His peace is ruined when his former partner Rogelio (John Ortiz) gives him a chance to get back in the boss’s good favor by taking a recently discovered severed arm (permanently giving a rigor mortis middle finger) over to Miami in the hope that a random open missing persons case can resolve it. But Yancy’s spider-sense is tingling and the more he looks into the arm, the more he feels something bigger at work.
Bill Lawrence wrote and directed the pilot episode which features his trademark sharp dialogue and penchant for writing flawed, but lovable man-children. The series isn’t as zany as Scrubs or as sincere as Ted Lasso, but the dark comedy vibes still work for his storytelling methods. Yancy eventually gets demoted to the local restaurant health inspector allowing some more Lawrence-esque moments of levity. Vaughn sells the small and big comedic moments with ease, being both charming and pitiful.
No detective story is complete without an eclectic supporting cast of suspicious characters. The entire series is endearingly narrated by gruff Captain Fitzpatrick (Tom Nowicki), the fisherman who discovered the arm. His voiceover adds the pulp novel feel alongside some welcome whimsy – through his rugged narration, the audience learns key character insight without getting too heavy on exposition.
Going on concurrently with Yancy’s search is fisherman Neville (Ronald Peet) living his best life in the Bahamas until a developer (Rob Delaney, who is terrific btw) wants to take his land. Neville is a likable, earnest character who gets wrapped up in some of the whackier elements of the show – including antics with his pet monkey Driggs, and voodoo witch The Dragon Lady (Jodie Turner-Smith). The narrator warns the viewer to be patient with these plot threads and after a few episodes, they do eventually connect to propel the mystery into high gear, but the early pacing can be slow.
Zach Braff is quite amusing in a bizarro nod to his Scrubs character as an alcoholic, pill-popping surgeon that Yancy comes across during his investigation. Michelle Monaghan is fascinating and hilarious as Yancy’s awful on-again-off-again toxic girlfriend who continues to unpeel multiple layers of secrets and depravity in her backstory. Yancy is clearly attracted to unusual women and Vaughn has terrific chemistry with oddball medical examiner Rosa Campesino played by Natalie Martinez. The great Scott Glenn also gets to be a terrific whackjob as Yancy’s adorable father, who spoke with a magical manatee friend that changed his outlook on life, I kid you not. The MVP of the supporting cast is Meredith Hagner as Eve Stripling, the widow of the severed arm – a magnetic comedic performance in a twisty role as events are revealed.
Accented by a mixed array of Tom Petty cover songs, the 10-episode first season does get a little long in the tooth by the end. The episode total could have been cut by at least an episode or two to streamline the plot, but the ending is still satisfying and even sets up the possibility of more seasons. The series is like reading a good detective novel that trades rain-soaked streets for brightly colored tropical locations filled with local buffoons. Vaughn shines by just being himself in the lead role while crushing one-liners. Bad Monkey looks and feels like a summer movie, but instead plays out at home on your TV on a weekly basis in this pleasant surprise of an Apple TV+ series.
Score 3.5 out of 5
Bad Monkey debuts on Apple TV+ with the first two episodes on August 14, 2024 followed by new episodes every Wednesday through October 9.