Black Monday

Intelligent, rapid-fire dialogue and brilliant performances from a stellar cast will leave you laughing and wanting more. The world of Black Monday can be harsh with a self-centered bent, but it certainly is entertaining. Much like the 1980s itself.

At the same time, Black Monday can be very funny, very clever about incorporating 1980s cultural references (not counting the piles of coke and “Wolf of Wall Street”-style excess) and very vulgar. It’s also propelled by three extremely talented people, among them Mr. Cheadle, who makes Mo abrasive, egotistic and obnoxious, yet at the same time a sympathetic outsider.

Even the only adult in the room, Mo’s deeply undervalued deputy and ex-girlfriend Dawn Darcy (Regina Hall, whose characteristically warm performance gives viewers an unexpected hero), has to indulge their sophomoric antics to survive. What makes Jammer tolerable is the threat it poses to an industry Caspe and Cahan portray as being numb to human suffering, where bratty blue bloods like the hilarious twin “Lehman Brothers” (both played by comedy treasure Ken Marino) hold all the power.

Broadly satirical. ... Thankfully, you don't have to like these jerks to enjoy them. [21 Jan - 3 Feb 2019, p.13]

There’s so much going on that it’s difficult to separate Black Monday’s sharpest moments from its constant throwaway lines. Cleverness appears in each of the first three episodes (one bit in which Oliver Stone’s hired researcher shadows Mo to get ideas for the movie “Wall Street” is a nice, full basket of ’80s Easter eggs), only to be drowned out by all the frantic energy and half-attempts at humor that smother it. Rannells and Cheadle are good together--enough so that the series may yet settle down and find its way.

There is a lot about Black Monday that’s desperate; characters are desperate for success, respect, money, revenge, happiness, and change. It makes the show an uneasy watch, as its leads strain so hard to get what they think they need.

It's hard to imagine that a half-hour comedy set on Wall Street with Don Cheadle and Andrew Rannells in major parts could go off the rails so quickly and spectacularly, but Showtime's latest, Black Monday, does just that. And that's even before you factor in Regina Hall giving arguably the best performance in the bunch. ... A lot of talent wasted working on something that seems thrown together, unstructured and ill-advised.