Clear History

Though it has its moments, Clear History is ultimately a disappointing endeavor that’s rarely able to live up to the high standard set by star Larry David’s television show, Curb Your Enthusiasm. (The comparison, though perhaps unfair, is certainly apt, as the movie generally feels like a 100-minute-long episode of the HBO series.) The film casts David as Nathan Flomm, a marketing executive who walks away from a promising automotive startup and almost immediately loses over a billion dollars in earnings – with the film following the character as he subsequently changes his name (to Rolly DaVore) and starts a new life on Martha’s Vineyard. Problems inevitably ensue as Nathan/Rolly’s former boss, Jon Hamm’s Will Haney, arrives on the island with his wife (Kate Hudson’s Rhonda) and son in tow, which prompts Nathan/Rolly to embark on a campaign of revenge alongside a pair of wacky locals (Michael Keaton’s Joe and Bill Hader’s Rags). It’s obvious immediately that David, along with director Greg Mottola and co-writers Alec Berg, David Mandel, and Jeff Schaffer, has little interest in offering up a film that’s radically different from his long-running television program, as Clear History has been infused with precisely the sort of attributes that one associates with Curb Your Enthusiasm – including confrontational bits of comedy and a myriad of smaller, more subtle touches (ie everything, from the scene transitions to the peppy score, contains echoes of Curb Your Enthusiasm). And while the movie is admittedly quite entertaining for a little while, Clear History begins to run out of steam to fairly dramatic effect somewhere around the half-hour mark – with the less-than-fleshed-out storyline contributing heavily to the film’s egregiously slight and far-from-cinematic atmosphere. The sporadic laughs and revolving door of familiar faces – folks like Danny McBride, Eva Mendes, and Philip Baker Hall make appearances – can’t, as a result, compensate for the pervasively stale vibe, and it’s finally impossible to label Clear History as anything more than a needless vanity project from David.

** out of ****