Story Synopsis: Take the concept for "24" for spies, multiply the leads by 7 and divide the time frame by 4, put that 6 hour target on steroids, and get all the leads with different problems to deal with a "Hangover" type arc... and the result is this, "Hot Mess"...
When some people want to enjoy a 1.5 hour movie that makes no logic or sense, but is still fun, they'd recommend to leave your brains out of the theatre and enjoy it... this is a similar caper but instead of being an hour and half, it is a 7 hour long marathon... if you have it in you to binge watch the entirety by keeping your brains out of the watching experience... then yes, it is a kind of fun that might grow and you might find it enjoyable... this is not for those who are looking for a story arc in the 7 hours...
This is not intended to be Shakespeare, and the dialogue is sometimes cringe... but the makers intend each and every frame to be pure-unadulterated-unapologetic fun and the intended audience will like it... personally I feel that anyone that can cross the 3 episode threshold, for character building, and decide to keep their brains out, will find it a good timepass...
The actors are all extremely irritating to begin with, but being to grow on you and become tolerable, once you are okay with the plot... Shelly Hennig, playing "Ava Winters", reminds me of Keri Russell, on almost every frame...
Through the opening scenes I grew cautiously optimistic this series, though mediocre, might be enjoyable enough to watch once and probably never again. There were some decent-looking bikini girl extras at the pool party. A mediocre hot chick in the starring role. Mediocre action. Mediocre comedy. The first nearly thirty minutes were pretty damn tolerable for Netflix content.
Then they realized they were below their woke per minute quota and needed to catch up so we got:
• Ridiculous feminist fantasy: Small woman takes down very big soldier guy with her trickery. Men are so inferior, obviously.
• Immediately followed by walking in on a gay bj
• Immediately followed by sex stereotype reversal: Hot player guy can’t have casual sex without expressing his feewings. In this case, needing to profess his love for a woman he’s known for a whole day or two while on a mission and having very little interaction.
I'm leaving some things out that on their own aren't a big deal but together with the above are additional straws on the proverbial camel's not-yet-broken back.
The few remaining minutes of the first episode were unremarkable. It sets up the plot for there to be more episodes.
Ten or so minutes into the second episode I was bored, so I grabbed my iPad to pursue other interests and distractedly listened with occasional glances at the tv. This is how I consume most 2020s content because it's just that good. (No, I don't pay for it.) I went through another 3 or 4 episodes that way until I went to bed. So, I made it around half way through the show. I have no urge to watch or listen to the rest.
I didn't expect there'd be a bunch of gratuitous man ass and penis shots. I’m now assuming gay men are the target audience.
Nothing about C Thomas Howell’s character enhances the show. I'm all for inappropriate humor. This demonstrates that sometimes inappropriate humor is just stupid, not funny.
The gremlin thing was funny enough at first. Soon it was as funny as hearing the same joke a dozen times. There's an obvious point in the show where it should have been the last of it.
Seriously, only March, but this has to be THE most cringeworthy series ever, Netflix at its worst. It’s 20 times worse than Bravo Two Zero v and with every last scrap of credibility removed. It also supports the FULL Netflix pc checklist:
Attractive, no good at parties, bitch boss
Hispanic lesbian sniper
Tee-total Asian helo pilot
OAP wannabe cool EOD guy that does his job listening to music
Pair of male black / white beefcakes with way more braun than brains. Oh yeah, the black guy is gay or bi and the white wannabe way to cool dude is a momas boy.
Nerdy tough talking chick tech girl
It’s totally cringe worthy in every single way. Crack SF team happily doing MDMA at a party that they threw using government money, way too much testosterone hose down and in the absence of any story let’s just thrown a bunch of rock tracks at everything oh yeah, let’s have everyone screw each other at the party and then feel bad about it, but polish it off with a bunch of double entendres porn jokes and then let’s have a top secret intelligence meeting on Zoom. SF / CIA elite, “The best of the best” as the President declares seriously, you wouldn’t this bunch of jokers in charge of an ice cream store that you wanted to go broke.
They did manage to tick several other boxes too though
Second rate actors
Third rate acting
Rubbish script
Zero depth to any character
Rubbishy unfunny jokes
Cliche use
F bombs used as failed humour substitute
Style over substance
Way too much testosterone
Yep, this is where uber cool falls FLAT on its face.
It’s hard to fathom what the intended audience is for this garbage?
like others said love or hate it. I loved it. Initially I they finally made something like the show fast lane if anyone remembers this.
I loved especially the first episodes but it kind of losses that initial appeal as the snow progresses . it has been just a long time, where something just crazy like this was released. making fun of everything around a quite good in my opinion 24like script. The show is a basket case, it has action, it has comedy , it has mockery, it has pretty people, (ava is pretty and nicely dressed) and in my opinion it was not cheap to produce despite appearances. I actually found myself laughing quite a lot in the first half of the season which was the best part.
My only negative complain is the music. it felt bad, out of touch and like it was used a carpet for radio show. it had no connection with what was happening. fast lane was awesome on this part.
if you want to criticize this based on seriousness then you are watching the wrong show. it's not a 24 because it's not as serious as 24. if you want action, pretty people, craziness and braindead entertainment then this is it. You won't regret this.
Review by JayowskiBlockedParent2023-11-30T23:37:32Z— updated 2023-12-02T02:22:54Z
No idea who greenlit this piece of manure. Looks like someone watched a couple of bad action-comedy films and then tried to write one... I cannot think of one thing that is decent in this one - writing is really, really bad, music is generic, fight scenes are "fantastic" as in they are not related to reality at all :(
If this was a film it would be awful, but someone decided to stretch it to EIGHT episodes. If only it was semi-decent...
Edit:
One more thing, this show reminds me of Z Nation tv show, an Asylum production (so heavily B-class production).
The thing is, Z Nation might have had low budget and was campy but at least it was funny and it build an interesting world.
Obliterated is an action-comedy show and it does both of the genres poorly. I don't think I laughed once throughout all eight episodes.
If only there were SOME things in this show that they got right, but even the drug use is portrayed poorly - guy eats a guacamole bowl of LSD and shrooms and is not only perfectly lucid for HOURS but also when it hits he has one specific hallucination? Give me a break, even wikipedia entries for drugs would get you closer to truth than this show's screenwriters lol.
There's a lot of tits and dick in this show, so there's that ¯_(ツ)_/¯