Comedy
Kaos
This modern retelling of Greek mythology falls into a pit of questionable themes and content concerns deeper than Tartarus.
When most people go out fishing in the ocean for the first time, they hope they’ll be able to catch something worth talking about.
James Mayberry sure did: He caught a severed human arm with shark teeth stuck in it.
Naturally, local Sheriff Sonny Summers asked Detective Andrew Yancy take the arm up from the Florida Keys to Miami for him. Severed human arms are far more common up there. The hope is the arm floated down from Miami, and he’s hoping there will be a match to some unfortunate soul.
Andrew’s not too keen to do the errand, what with his being suspended from his job due to the time he assaulted his lover’s husband. Still, he figures that playing along just might help get his job back, so up to Miami he goes.
Unfortunately for Andrew, the Miami coroner doesn’t have any files for a corpse (or person) matching the arm. But then a twist of fate offers a helping hand. Not long after, a woman named Eve Stripling reports her husband, Nick, missing following a solo boating trip—a man whose attributes do match the arm. And when she learns the news, Eve decides that she’d like to have the arm back so she can perform a funeral service.
But as Andrew transfers the cooler with the arm into the back of Eve’s car in the hot parking lot of a Winn-Dixie, he detects that Eve doesn’t seem all that beat up about her husband’s death. In fact, the more she talks to him, the more it all seems like an act—like she’s just “trying very, very hard to cry.”
What’s more, the shark teeth belong to a species that typically wouldn’t be able to slice a grown man’s arm off.
And with the case smelling fishier than the Florida air, well, Andrew just can’t help himself. Like a fish (or a severed arm) in the Floridian waters, he’s hooked.
But being hooked doesn’t usually end well for fish.
You’ll notice that no monkey, good or bad, was mentioned in that intro. That’s because the chimp resides on Andros Island in the Bahamas. How does this monkey play into the story? Well, that’s just part of this international crime mystery.
Adapted to screen from Carl Hiaasen’s 2013 novel of the same name, Bad Monkey takes viewers through an engaging story full of bad people—and a detective hoping to make things right. And, despite the grisly circumstances, the plot often veers into the comedic.
Vince Vaughn plays your standard dry-humored detective, as quick to crack a quip as he is to ignore his higher-ups in pursuit of a case only he can see. But unfortunately for viewers, a lot of standard content tropes also come along for the ride.
The deeper Det. Yancy goes into the case, the more people wind up dead…and the sordid actions of others are brought to the surface. It’s revealed that one woman, for instance, extorted sex from an underaged student. And on a similar note, our protagonist engages in a longstanding and shameless affair with the wife of another man. And though clever camerawork keeps explicit nudity off the screen, we still see one night of passion and hear frequent sexual references. And though Andrew isn’t always stuck to a bottle of booze (as most on-screen detectives seem to be), he does have a standard-issue foul mouth.
And as for other issues, Andrew’s investigation includes the involvement of a woman who actively practices voodoo for payment.
Watching Bad Monkey certainly won’t cost you an arm (or a leg, for that matter). But it’ll probably be a case you’ll want to scope out before signing on for.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at [email protected], or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
When tasked with transporting a severed arm lost in an alleged boating accident, Andrew Yancy suspects that foul play is involved.
Andrew is involved in an ongoing affair with another man’s wife. They kiss and have sex, and while we hear sounds and see movements, nothing is shown. A woman is seen in a bra. Someone references autoerotic asphyxia. A woman criticizes her stepdaughter’s short dress, claiming she can see her privates. Someone makes reference to oral sex. A man’s necklace describes himself as a magnet for female genitalia. Someone points out that a name also references a product for vaginal care.
The severed arm is shown many times. A man is shot and killed. A coroner references working on a 15-year-old girl who had been murdered. Andrew rams a man in a golf cart with his car, pushing the man and his vehicle off a dock and into the water. We’re told that a husband slapped his wife. A raccoon is squashed by a passing car. We see the body of a squashed lizard.
A priest reads a portion of Psalm 23 at a funeral. A woman, called the Dragon Queen, practices voodoo, which one person describes as “no sillier than them tall tales them tell you in the Bible.” A man, Neville, contacts her to put a curse on another man. The Dragon Queen tells him that the man may die from the curse, though the magic will have to be extra strong since the man is from the United States. (It isn’t explained why Americans have a stronger resistance to voodoo magic.) Neville responds that, if such a thing were to happen, it would be “God’s will.”
People drink beer, wine and liquor. Alcohol is purchased for others and given as gifts. People smoke marijuana.
Men urinate in gas tanks.
The f-word is used nearly 30 times, including one instance which is preceded by “mother.” The s-word is used over 15 times. Crude words for male and female genitalia are used, too. We also hear words like “a–,” “b–ch,” “h—,” “d–n,” p-ssed” and “wh-re.” God’s name is used in vain eight times, including twice in the form of “g-dd–n.” Jesus’ name is used in vain seven times. The severed arm is locked into displaying its middle finger, which multiple people comment on and the coroner attributes to unfortunate rigor mortis.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
This modern retelling of Greek mythology falls into a pit of questionable themes and content concerns deeper than Tartarus.
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