A half-hour dramedy about an insanely angry executive whose visit to a very expensive clinic in Hawaii makes her insufferably narcissistic in a far more spiritual way, “Enlightened” comes to HBO from the great Mike White, whose screenwriting credits include “Chuck & Buck,” “Freaks and Geeks,” “Orange County,” “The Good Girl,” “Nacho Libre” and “School of Rock.”
It is the best new half-hour of autumn.
White’s excellent feature directorial debut, “Year Of The Dog,” co-starred Laura Dern, who now co-stars in “Enlightened” with White, Luke Wilson and Dern’s mom Diane Ladd.
Like “Year of the Dog,” “Enlightened” demonstrates how delusional halfwits with profound emotional disorders can hold jobs. The HBO series shows how lawyers, psychotherapists and corporate culture can enable horrible people.
I love that the focus falls sharply on Dern’s character, Amy. It’s not an ensemble piece that wastes a lot of time with boring b-stories. Dern is hilarious as a big ball of crazy bullshit, as is Wes Anderson collaborator Wilson as her horny ex.
Amy’s demotion from department head and “Health & Beauty buyer” to data entry clerk is an ugly one. Her sane and useful assistant is promoted during Amy’s recuperation and given Amy’s old office in the high-rise corporate sky while Amy’s new workstation is in the basement, where she’s surrounded by people who embody anything but health and beauty.
Ignore the critics who say the show doesn’t have enough laughs. It this played in cinemas (and it feels like one of White’s indie movies), I believe the funny would make itself more obvious.
To anticipate the question, “New Girl” was just my favorite new broadcast pilot. “Enlightened” is my favorite new half-hour on or off broadcast.
... wittily sends up the self-actualization movement. ... the fun of “Enlightened” early on is in not knowing too much. Amy seeks a higher purpose, but for the time being she would settle for getting back to an office with an assistant and an expense account. or Amy, consigned to the basement with all the other lunchroom rejects, moving one floor up would be nirvana.
... the most interesting and ambitious series of the fall season ... White and Dern might have settled for lampooning a certain strain of spiritual striving and the blindness the convert mistakes for sight, in which case they would have done nothing new. But they're out for something more, it seems to me, something as deep and deeply moving as what Amy herself wants to feel, and they bring you every so often to the same ecstatic, painful place their heroine inhabits. You might weep a little. …
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:
... Fans of "Pasadena" -- all three of us -- will recognize the tinkling background music as familiar along with that show's dark humor. But like so many HBO "comedies," this one is really more of a drama with comedic elements than it is an out-and-out laugh-fest. …
The San Francisco Chronicle says:
... Laura Dern doesn't make it easy, either for her character's co-workers in the new sitcom she created with Mike White, or for the show's viewers. The fact that her character is difficult and at times, insufferable, is one reason "Enlightened," premiering Monday on HBO, is worth it for viewers. ... The supporting cast is terrific, especially co-creator White as a nerdy, deadpan co-worker …
... sublime yet broodingly real ... finds a sweet spot between utter heartbreak and wry satire of corporate culture. …
… Am I hooked? Yes indeed. This is a double-dark comedy. Dern is fantastic as Amy -- you cringe as her histrionics drive people away, and cringe again as she tries to suppress her feelings behind a veneer of New Age peacefulness. Dern’s real-life mother, Diane Ladd, is perfectly icy as Amy’s withholding mother. …
... as not-quite-there as it may sometimes be, Enlightened is interesting enough to avoid the increasingly common HBO curse of egregious self-indulgence. Indeed, thanks to a wonderful and often moving central performance from Dern, it can even be strangely absorbing. ...
... Amy seems to have no idea how uncomfortable she makes everyone - and that, in turn, makes much of "Enlightened" extremely uncomfortable to watch. ...
... still isn't completely clear regarding its intentions. In the hands of writer/co-star Mike White, that's not entirely bad, but the unorthodox tone and emotionally fragile protagonist suggest this strange journey of self-discovery will harbor narrow appeal even by pay TV's refined standards. …
Watching a series like "Enlightened" makes you happy there's a home for shows that don't fit the mold. ... what makes Enlightened so intriguing is that it never stays in that one gear, workplace comedy of bitterness and remorse (though it's very funny when it does, primarily because Dern can hilariously and instantly turn from New Age goddess to screaming, swearing maniac -- her ability to be foulmouthed is impressive to witness) ...
9:30 p.m. Monday. HBO.
