TV Review: CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, 8.4 - "The Smiley Face"

By T.J. Barnard / August 2, 2011

rating: 3.5

Curb Your Enthusiasm thrives on a repeated formula that has proven its worth week after week, with few exceptions. How many comedy shows can stick to their original blueprints for well over 70 episodes and prove themselves anything but stale? Most require a tweak here or there, or a shift in humour or tone to get with the changing times. Mixing it up doesn't always work out, and it's something Curb has never really had to face. Phew. In the show's extensive decade long run, there have been merely a couple of lesser episodes, a dozen episodes best described as comedy masterpieces, those that are very good, and those that are just fine. "The Smiley Face," the fourth episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm's eight season, fits nicely into the latter category. Divorced and apparently getting quite accustomed to it (and still in Los Angeles), Larry David has moved on from his short fling with a Palestinian woman and is dating a beautiful restaurant hostess by the name of Heidi. She works at one of Larry and Jeff's (Jeff Green) favourite dinner venues, and Jeff is peeved that his friend would chose to date somebody in such a position. When he breaks up with her, which he confesses he most definitely will, they won't be able to come back. Larry isn't too bothered, casually surrendering to the fact that he will eventually have to "shit where he eats" - one of this episode's best scenes, if only for its glance at two best friends making each other laugh. He is bothered by one of Heidi's annoying little habits, though - when she texts him, she puts a smiley face at the end of every message. Pathetic, even by Larry's standards? Of course, he brings this up in due time, and their relationship takes a nasty turn that leaves Larry sunburnt in a most amusing way. The other stories take a lesser focus: Antoinette, Larry's assistant, hasn't been at work because she's gone to be with her father on his death bed. Larry can't believe how long it's taking for him to die, and tries to convince her to return to work. In the office next door, adding further annoyance to Larry's work hours, somebody has moved in: Big Dog (Harry Hamlin), a petty, obnoxious individual (sound like anybody we know?) who commanders Larry's cupboard space and refuses to play fair. There are lots of story-lines at work here, but you'll only remember a couple of them. For the first time this season, Curb feels a little€ well, forced. Compared to the brilliantly intricate nature of "Palestinian Chicken," which brought stories together as naturally as the show ever has done, things seemed a little too contrived. The situations emerged as if thought up by somebody other than Larry trying to think of Curb-inspired aggravations to get angry about, and a couple of the plot points get lost (What was the deal with Heidi's niece? What happened to the Big Dog story?) along the way. Curb Your Enthusiasm rarely makes you feel like you're going through the motions - "The Smiley Face" straddles that fine line awkwardly, but never quite takes a tumble. Why not? Well, it's still very funny television, and there are some hilarious lines to be enjoyed ("I will be the Edmund Hillary of shitting where you eat..."). Need reassurance? Remember that being able to watch Larry David do anything (or nothing, depending on how you look at it) is something that should be treasured. If "The Smiley Face" isn't the best example of what makes this particular Jewish comic a bonafide genius, it will still have you thanking your lucky stars that Larry David decided to create a show in which he appears in front of the camera and not just behind the scenes. Curb Your Enthusiasm returns next Sunday on HBO in the US and is coming soon to Sky Atlantic in the UK.