Ah, New York. It's inescapable really. Like it or not, it's still what people think about when they think of the American dream. Usually that has nothing to do with the actual New York City, so it's nice to see a show attempt to portray how New York is to New Yorkers, that strange mix of the artificial and the dangerous, where the glamour is gritty and the grit is glamourous. In other words, how it's the opposite of L.A.
So there's one thing for How to Make It in America against its West Coast rival, Entourage. It's set in New York, it's shot in New York, it's full of New York actors and locations. Which isn't to say it's not pure fantasy. It is. Ben Epstein and Cam Calderon live in a world of hipster parties and latino gangsters, homemade t-shirts and indie energy drinks. Everyone knows everyone else by sight from across the street, everyone talks about struggling for money while throwing around cash like MC Hammer circa 1987. Sexy parties are shown in instamatic montages.
Ben (Bryan Greenberg) is a brooding fashion school drop-out recently out of a long-term relationship with a designer, Rachel (Lake Bell). Cam (Victor Rasuk) is his talkative Hispanic best friend who does all the wheeling and dealing. Together they're trying to start a fashion line from the bottom up, which sounds like a stupid idea until you think about the amount of money people spend on overpriced crap. Making jeans on the fly with local manufacturers and boosted fabric isn't dumber than any other get rich quick scheme out there. But this is local, do-it-yourself fashion: less flashbulbs and runways, more digging through warehouses for a shopping cart full of used t-shirts.
So How To Make It In America really isn't the east coast's answer to Entourage, even with the same executive producers and pretty much the same demographics. It's more about all the worries and near-misses and giddy successes associated with doing things from the ground up. It also benefits from a few things Entourage doesn't have. First is a slew of cameos by great actors you recognize instantly but can't place (the "Hey, that guy/girl!" factor). There's so many that you start to wonder if the producers called up every near-famous actor within five blocks of the set every day and whoever showed up got in.
The second thing going for the show is the supporting cast. On the Bronx side, we have Luis Guzmán as the thug Renée Calderon, just out of jail, trying to turn from crime to a legitimate business. Guzman's piggish eyes, his impish smile, his bulk, equal parts imposing and comical, make him fascinating and funny as a small-time boss trying to turn things around. On the uptown side we have Martha Plimpton as Rachel's boss, an unaplogetically middle-aged and divorced interior designer. She's a hard drinker, hard smoker, and whatever else you're offering, and her relationship with Rachel is somewhere between a caring mom and a big sister who's a terrible influence. Both of these characters are so fun and watchable it almost makes up for the other stuff.
But other stuff there is. Particularly the love triangle between Ben, Rachel, and her new boyfriend, a square-jawed architect (Jason Pendergrat, charming as a snake). Ben and Rachel are bland enough on their own, put them together and it's one big bland buffet. Thankfully Cam tends to interrupt them with his stereotypical latino antics which honestly tends to grow on you after a while. Then the two are off on some d.i.y. fashion design adventure and things are all right again.
The series is also pretty short, only eight episodes of thirty minutes each, which is just enough of a hook to leave you wanting more.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
Four of the episodes have a different number of audio commentaries. A couple short featurettes about life on the streets, including a fascinating set interviews with some of the cast about how they got their starts in the business.
"How To Make It In America: The Complete First Season" is on sale September 27, 2011 and is not rated. Comedy, Drama, Television. Directed by Julian Aymes, Julian Farino. Written by Ian Edelman. Starring Bryan Greenberg, Lake Bell, Luis Guzman, Martha Plimpton, Victor Rasuk.
