Up All Night - Episode 1.02 - Cool Neighbors - Review

"Aaaand we're good. Baby loves me. Reagan…? We're done. Baby loves me." —Ava

The writers of Up All Night may still be guessing and tweaking how to fit Maya Rudolph into the show, but when it comes down to laughs, she is just absolutely hilarious (right from her first scene, too, where she goes "You two… so much love making"). The problem with the pilot episode was that it seemed like a mockumentary styled show and Ava stuck out because Rudolph was playing a character instead of playing a person, while Christina Applegate and Will Arnett were quite humanized. This second episode, and it may be that they decided to go in a different direction here or perhaps I'm perceiving this way too acutely, doesn't feel like it's trying to do the documentary thing. You probably picked up on this, as well.

Where the pilot had shots that were behind certain elements, like behind a threshold and peeping in or behind a bush looking onward, or had certain camera movements, like zooming in from an establishing shot instead of cutting away or panning the camera in any which way, that gave it that certain feel, this second episode used that much less. The camera was still shaky but decided to put its actors front and center. It's what classifies the distinction between The Office and Parks and Recreation from 30 Rock and Community, if you know what I mean. And because of that, I think Ava's character fit much better this time around — this isn't peeping into people's lives anymore as the pilot would have you believe, but it's still funny and still feels like the same show.

But that's neither here nor there with what happened in the actual episode. This week, the show found Reagan and Chris coming to terms with how uncool they've become thanks to a "cool" couple that moves in across the street — I mean, even their dog makes every other dog in the neighborhood look like garbage. And the concept for that makes sense (even if it's a bit early in the series, I thought) and better yet it was funny. It gratuitously made use of its self-contained running gags (from ironic music to cool haircuts and baby wallets).

That's especially true when Trent, one-half of the new neighbors, comes over to thank them for the tequila bottle and Chris goes, "'Sup mate, we love conceptual arts. Brilliant." And Will Arnett has that huge smile on his face, it just made me laugh.

But by that same token, in that same scene, it seemed like it was trying a little too hard to be funny. And since we were tricked to believe these were real people in the first episode, it just made me want to yell at them to stop talking as they were making themselves look like fools. Because no one would actually act like that in real life.

But remember: the show is evolving. These aren't people; they're characters.

And with that in mind, Ava's storyline was on point. She's threatened by the baby because she feels like Amy might be putting a divide between she and her friend Reagan (and she wants everyone to love her). Rudolph's deadpan while saying "Bye, Amy. Love you," after her awkward encounter of being asked to hold the baby was hilarious (maybe it's because I can completely relate to the situation, which makes me feel like a bad person, actually) just as much as her baby-wallet buying and literally the way she said "baby-wallet." They still, however, brought her character down a few notches by "accepting" the baby (in a sense) after she realizes Amy "loves" her at the end. And I think we'll get a less anti-baby Ava in the future and one who fits the dynamic better, but still doesn't know what to do with babies per sé. But it was Nick Cannon, who I don't exactly have an affinity for, that made me laugh the hardest when Calvin says "No problem. She's an angel. I should be thanking you!" after being thanked for babysitting Amy.

But that's not to say there aren't other laugh aloud-worthy moments. There are, including the kicker at the end when the police arrive to the housewarming party and Chris's cellphone goes off from his tight pants with the ironic-Train ringtone. Or Reagan and Chris readying up their Facebook profile to look cool enough for when Trent requests them.

This second episode really is still ambivalent towards the show's direction, but perhaps third time's a charm. Either way, I believe I'm truly on my way to becoming a fan. I may even "like" Up All Night on Facebook soon — and in a completely non-ironic way.

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