Don Cheadle and Andrew Rannels’ new comedy has the red flags of an inflated stock, but it’s hard not to invest in this leading lady.
Outdated and overextended aren’t desirable qualities for stocks or TV shows, but “Black Monday” makes them work to its advantage — for now. Showtime’s new comedy follows a greedy, drug-addicted, morally bankrupt but monetarily flush stock trader whose dangerous play for one company may have caused the worst stock market crash in the history of Wall Street. Despite saying as much right off the bat, David Caspe and Jordan Cahan ask you to root for Don Cheadle’s Maurice “Mo” Monroe anyway, marking yet another TV series mistakenly built on an antihero story (so very out of fashion in 2019) and told at such a rapid rate one wonders how “Black Monday” will sustain interest beyond its first episodes.
But oh what fun lies within these initial 90 minutes. There’s Don Cheadle’s coked-up charm and a robot butler named Kyle; there’s a “Marry Me” reunion with Ken Marino playing identical twin Lehman brothers and Casey Wilson as a spoiled rich kid who’s as quick to slap her would-be hubby as she is to crush his reproductive parts; there’s ’80s jumpsuits, baggy suits, white suits, and track suits; there’s a bright red Lamborghini limousine — a lambo limo, a limbo — with a recurring role; there’s a murder-mystery to unravel, and an acknowledgement of “Top Gun’s” homoerotic overtones by people who just saw “Top Gun” in theaters. And towering above it all is Regina Hall, ready and waiting for the solo spotlight she deserves, but making the most of one more supporting gig.
