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Vince Vaughan plays Andrew Yancy, a former Miami detective who is shipped down to the keys after a scandal ruins his career. Although he has been relegated to a restaurant inspector, he is never far away from his career.
Despite a professional life plagued with scandals and near-death misses, life is good for Yancy in a way that only works on television. He lives in a perfect coastal cottage with a feisty, independent girlfriend, Bonnie (Michelle Monaghan), and still has a close bond with his former partner, Rogelio (John Ortiz).
His idyllic yet meandering life in Florida changes when a severed arm is discovered. Rogelio sees a way for Yancy to claw back his past life, simply deliver the arm on ice to Dade County’s bored medical examiner Rosa (Natalie Martinez) and get into the department’s good books. There is no official match for the arm on the police database, but Yancy isn’t ready to give up his one chance at redemption.
Bad Monkey Review on Apple TV+
Yancy perks up and thinks he smells a case when he meets the widow, Eve (Meredith Hagner), of the man whose arm was severed. Yancy thinks the wife’s grief is a little too insincere and decides he needs to prove it is a murder case.
Adapted from a 2013 novel by Carl Hiaasen, this 10-parter relies on Vince Vaughn’s charm to keep audiences engaged. Initially, with his flip-flops and loud shirts, he seems the happy-go-lucky type, but under it all, he is a man with a conscience who misses his old life in the force. Vaughn milks the script for every ounce of laugh to be found, turning a lackluster crime caper into a dry, fast-talking black comedy.
The opening episodes also introduce audiences to the island of Andros in the Bahamas, where a fisherman named Neville (Ronald Peet) owns the titular bad monkey. The connection between the man trying to hang onto his beachfront home and a down-on-his-luck detective will come to light, but audiences have to stick with it.
Tom Nowicki’s droll voiceover ties together the intertwining plots. His gruff tone gives a classic film noir twist to the bright, modern drama. This narration does the heavy lifting when it comes to connecting the stories and themes. Without Nowicki, audiences may feel left in the dark about why they are watching the religious nuances of a Bahaman Island.
The Andros elements of Bad Monkey feel too different tonally from Vince Vaughn in Florida. The way it looks and is written is just too disconnected. Despite a spellbinding performance from Jodie Turner-Smith as an Obeah-practicing Dragon Queen, the show feels inferior when not following Yancy and the case of the severed arm. The Bahamas portion of the 10-part drama is complex and cerebral, working on a different level from the rest of Bad Monkey, which focuses on Vaughn’s dry brand of humor. The two tones and weirdness level don’t work in harmony, battling for audience’s attention.
The opening episode is heavy with exposition and character development. While the first episode throws a lot of information at audiences, the following nine episodes meander through the narrative until the last episode fizzles out. The heavy exposition would have seemed a little less intense if presented across multiple episodes instead of clumped together.
The crime element of Bad Monkey feels a little hollow. While Vaughn delivers razor-sharp one-liners, the whodunit feels just too low stakes for a modern audience. The twists and red herrings come across as lazy and tired, using formulaic plot points that viewers have long moved past. Just when audiences can get their teeth into the crime, the show diverts to the Caribbean.
The supporting cast is hugely talented, but there are too many subplots involving their drama. The exploration of secondary characters is just too thin. Bonnie is a vibrant character, if not a little over-idealized, but is severely underused. The true relationship of Bad Monkey is that between Yancy and Rogelio, the voice of reason in the face of Yancy’s self-destruction. The endless bickering between the former colleagues is a joy to watch, and Vaughn and Ortiz deliver natural chemistry.
Created by Bill Lawrence, who made Ted Lasso and Shrinking for Apple +, Bad Monkey features the same black comedy that often feels too dark to be funny. It also features Lawrence’s signature of characters struggling to communicate in a complicated world where too much is spoken, but nothing is said.
Lawrence penned the opening episode and finale of Bad Monkey, but Lawrence’s favorites and new faces write the rest of the season. Writing credits from the first season include Matt Tarses (Scrubs), Milla Bell-Hart (Monarch: Legacy of Monsters), Ashley Nicole Black (Ted Lasso), Brian C. Brown (Legion), Ellie Knauss (The Rocker), Michael C. Martin (Brookyn’s Finest), Annie Mebane (Shrinking), and Adam Sztykiel (Black Adam).
Liz Friedlander (The Boys), Marcos Siega (The Flight Attendant), Colin Bucksey (Fargo), and Erica Dunton (Ted Lasso) take on directing duties. The show is almost too bright and cheery, and it looks more like a procedural show than a slick Apple TV+ crime drama. The stark difference between the way the locations are shot is jarring to viewers, disorienting them.
Less True Detective and more Burn Notice, Bad Monkey is a slow, low-stakes crime drama that wanders unnecessarily into spirituality as it struggles to connect two very different stories. Unsure if it wants to be a dark comedy or crime drama, Vince Vaughn elevates a confusing script that fails to focus on a tone.
Grade: C-
Bad Monkey
A detective turned restaurant inspector in Southern Florida is pulled into a world of greed and corruption after a tourist finds a severed arm while fishing. And yes, there's a monkey.
Release Date: August 13, 2024
Director: Bill Lawrence
Cast: Vince Vaughn , Natalie Martinez , Michelle Monaghan
