Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm

1999

Action / Comedy

9
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 81% · 1 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 81%
IMDb Rating 8.2/10 10 6566 6.6K

Plot summary

Mock documentary about Seinfeld writer Larry David featuring contributions from his friends and colleagues. Larry makes a return to stand-up comedy and prepares to film a television special for HBO. This is the original special that gave birth to the long-running award-winning HBO series.

Director

Robert B. Weide Photo
Robert B. Weide

Top cast

Julie Claire Photo
Julie Claire as HBO Production Team
Carol Leifer Photo
Carol Leifer as Self
Larry Charles Photo
Larry Charles as Self
Suzy Nakamura Photo
Suzy Nakamura as HBO Production Designer
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
544.86 MB
1280*714
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
29.97 fps
12 hr 59 min
Seeds 2
1010.37 MB
1920*1072
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
29.97 fps
12 hr 59 min
Seeds 12

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by zerobeat 8 / 10

Brilliant "pilot" I never knew existed

I saw this sometime during Season 7 of the series and I had no idea it was from 10 years previous. The only clues along the way were that Jerry looked a lot younger and the joke about the Clinton BJ. It's not a conventional pilot: It's more like a one-off mockumentary special that probably inspired HBO to pursue a series. The only reason I give it only 8/10 is because the series would become even better in many episodes.It seems that some of the interviews (with Charles and Seinfeld for example) aren't scripted at all, but are their actual comments about the real Larry David. This isn't surprising, since even the rest of the screen time doesn't seem that outside reality.
Reviewed by Quinoa1984 9 / 10

a funny and inspired pilot that's later been surpassed by its endlessly creative series

The original pilot of Curb Your Enthusiasm, which I've seen a few times (sometimes truly forgetting that it's the pilot at all, as its stylistically 75% of the time identical to the show), has its share of laughs. But it is, in its own right, a slightly different animal, so to speak, when compared to its 5-season-and-running TV HBO series. It's meant as a hybrid of what David was tinkering as the main premise of what his show would be about- mainly him getting into awkward bits of circumstance and everyday things with people (mainly with some embarrassing or just strange results)- and his stand-up routines countered with *real* remarks from Seinfeld and others. Despite what it might seem as too much going on in a one hour show, he makes it work well. The improvisational style later nailed to a T in the seasons to come is a little more primitive here, but Cheryl Hinds and Jeff Garlin are pros at what they do here.There's also a plot line involving David setting up a special on HBO (hence the stand-up), and then at the last moment stopping to due his "dead" step-father. Like all pilots, its got its imperfections, but its perks outweigh the valleys none-the-less. Surprising still at least in having not seen or heard a shred of David's stand-up material before is how it's actually funnier than expected. It almost makes one wonder why there isn't the occasional drop of the real stand-up stuff in the series (but then again, the very Larry David-esquire curve balls on the show are the bits of stand-up theatrical). It's worth it to check out if you're a fan and pass it by one night if by chance on one of the HBO's or on DVD; it might be funnier as well if you know some of the other little back-story bits from the show (i.e. HBO). A minor display of brilliance.
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