Apple TV+ series ‘Bad Monkey,’ starring Vince Vaughn, ‘sucks one in like a south Tampa sinkhole’ – WSJ

“Bad Monkey,” the Apple Original comedy from award-winning executive producer Bill Lawrence and starring and executive produced by Vince Vaughn, premieres globally on Apple TV+ on August 14, 2024.
The new Apple TV+ comedy series “Bad Monkey” tells the story of detective Andrew Yancy (Vince Vaughn), who has been bounced from the Miami Police Department and is now a health inspector in the Keys. But after stumbling upon a case that begins with a human arm fished up by tourists, he realizes that if he can prove murder, he’ll be back in. He just needs to get past a trove of Floridian oddballs and one bad monkey.
“Bad Monkey” is earning strong reviews.
John Anderson for The Wall Street Journal:
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“So,” said a friend, hearing how much I was enjoying “Bad Monkey,” severed limbs and all, “it’s Vince Vaughn being Vince Vaughn?” Well, yes, exactly, and maybe enough for two Vince Vaughns. But the actor fits in among the demimonde of novelist Carl Hiaasen’s Florida Keys the way his character fits into a Hawaiian party shirt. The dialogue is as elevated as the water level in Miami. The story sucks one in like a south Tampa sinkhole.
It is probably sufficient to say I watched the 10 chapters of “Bad Monkey” as quickly as I could, but why would one do so? The narrative is elaborately plotted but not labyrinthine. The relationships all feel fresh — Yancy’s bond with his long-suffering ex-partner, Ro (John Ortiz), puts new blood in the cop-buddy convention – and the characters are unconventional, even if Yancy is an amalgamation of every Vince Vaughn role ever. That Mr. Vaughn is the human embodiment of yacht rock may have crossed the filmmakers’ minds, because the soundtrack is mostly covers of Tom Petty and Fleetwood Mac songs, some having been reworked into unorthodox shapes and tempos while still being familiar, even comfortable. Something similar could be said about “Bad Monkey.”

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MacDailyNews Take: We watch “Bad Monkey.” So far, we like “Bad Monkey” (even if we did correctly guess whose arm it was two episodes before it was revealed. We recommend “Bad Monkey.”
MacDailyNews Note: Apple TV+ is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Vision Pro, Mac, popular smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO, TCL and others, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for $9.99 per month with a seven-day trial. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac or iPod touch can enjoy three months of Apple TV+ for free.
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