Critic Reviews

Holmes is terrific as the show's emotional core, a walking wound upon whom the universe dumps a daily portion of salt. Crashing is happy to wear its heart on its sleeve--or on the big goofy face of its leading men. [17 Feb 2017, p.54]

Crashing has enough mostly gentle amusements to keep it on track. And it’s increasingly easy to get on Pete’s side.

Crashing may be a bit slight, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing: It knows what it’s going for and more often than not, fulfills its modest ambitions in amusing and diverting ways.

Every aspect of the show seems informed by its main character’s--and creator’s--joy. Plots unfold with rollicking energy, actors ham it up, and the script seems sometimes to read only, “Chuckles abound,” as when Pete and some pals spend a montage mock-surprising one another with excellent news.

This is the kind of show that’s not going to make the big pop-culture impact of the series that precedes it--Girls--but it’s a worthy dispenser of pleasure.

Being a comedian can be a thankless grind, but in Pete (not to mention Holmes’s) hands, it’s a joy to remember that the whole point is to make people laugh.

There is a lot of talk--practical and philosophical--about comedy, and Crashing is very good with the details of low-level nightlife. But what most makes the show entertaining are Pete’s episodic adventures with characters who will help form him, challenge him and wake him from his self-satisfied sleep into a better sort of happiness.

Pete has yet to figure out that the art of winning an audience is perfected through enthusiastically failing again and again. Crashing shows that Holmes has already mastered that lesson and has moved on to quietly, honestly killing it.

As raw and raunchy as the comedy sometimes gets on Crashing, there's something incredibly endearing and downright sweet about this new HBO series. That something is the performance of the immensely likable Pete Holmes.

In the fifth episode of the season, Crashing hits a peak, particularly since it lets Audrie Neenan offer her own take on his work--and his choice in women. She’s a jewel as mom and a perfect foil for Wise and Holmes. ... If there’s a drawback to this season, it’s the length. Easily, Crashing could have stretched a couple more episodes and shown the aftermath of life in the big leagues.