Distributor: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc, Warner Home Video
Episodes: 22
Duration: 20 min.
Two and a Half Men: Season 11 (DVD) – Series Review
The comical series Two and a Half Men has been going on for quite a while now. We’ve arrived at the eleventh season already and it seems like the series will go on for another season after this one. But can the series keep the jokes funny, the plot interesting and the characters lovable enough to keep coming back? Here’s my experience with season 11 of Two and a Half Men.
We all know Charlie is gone. He’s dead, cremated and has a special place in the beach house of Walden Schmidt and Alan Harper (actually, Alan is just a free-loader, living off Walden’s wealth and good nature). Although actor Charlie Sheen was obviously the star of the show, Ashton Kutcher proved to be a worthy successor and co-actor for Jon Cryer (Alan Harper). Seeing the two boys go at one another in every episode is surely fun enough but this season, the directors decided to spice things up and give Charlie’s daughter Jennifer a prominent role in the series. Yes, apparently one time, Charlie wasn’t careful enough when he was dating a certain woman and so along came ‘Jenny’ (Amber Tamblyn). The minute she appears on the show, you can clearly see why the makers of Two and a Half Men decided to bring her along for the ride. She’s just another Charlie, but in the form of a lesbian girl. And she’s just as hilarious as her late father.
Besides Jenny, there’s another new recurring character who’s called Barry Foster (Clark Duke). Barry is a typical geek: very naïve, not that good with the ladies and a bit socially awkward (okay, very socially awkward). The newcomers are a much needed fresh wind in the series and they add a lot to the creation of hilarious moments. Besides those newcomers, you’ll see a lot more from Alan and Charlie’s mother Evelyn (Holland Taylor) as she has found a new lover (not coincidentally a very old man with lots and lots of money). Although Evelyn herself isn’t such a caricature like, for example, Alan or Jenny; she always succeeds in waiting for the right moment to drop sarcastic and ironic one-liners. As her screen time is mostly quite brief, it’s fantastic to notice how much of an impression she leaves behind every single time she crosses paths with the main actors. The same can be said of the-always-napping-housekeeper Berta (Conchata Ferrel) for that matter.
Overall, the jokes are funny enough to get a good laugh once in a while but some subjects get a bit old after some time. To give an example: the continuous picking on Alan for his looks or for his uselessness in paying the rent gets old eventually. The same counts for Jenny’s behaviour which is an exact copy of Charlie’s when he was still around. Eventually you might get left behind with an “okay okay, I get it already” feeling. Luckily, most of you watch this show especially for the constant silliness and not for the great story so it shouldn’t bother too much. This is the kind of series you watch between other, more complex ones, just to give your brain a breather once in a while.
Story wise, season 11 offers a lot of variety which keeps the viewer from getting bored with the plot. You probably won’t want to watch the whole season in one sitting because it’s so incredibly exciting but then again, this is not Game of Thrones, right? All I can say is that the narrative causes the series to feel like a coherent whole which is always a plus.
Acting performances are pretty good. Especially newcomer Amber Tamblyn knows how to put down a very likeable character without getting annoying. It’s great to see how Charlie’s role has been transferred to his daughter and it really fits the show perfectly. Kutcher too does a fantastic job with his Walden personage and of course, Two and a Half Men wouldn’t be the same without Jon Cryer.
With the dvd box of season 11, you also get a nice compilation of Bloopers in the Gag Reel extra. If the regular series isn’t enough to get you laughing out loud, then this feature certainly will.
Conclusion
Once again, Two and a Half Men succeeds in making me feel like the most intelligent person in the room as I kept on laughing at Alan’s clumsiness, Walden’s witty remarks and Jenny’s problem with booze and drugs. Some jokes have had their best time and the series could use some more creativeness but it won’t keep you from giggling at a lot of situations.
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