For being mildly centered on two former bandmates begrudgingly coming together, it’s weird to see Denis Leary’s return to FX, Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll, air just a day after Rescue Me co-creator Peter Tolan's own through TV Land’s The Jim Gaffigan Show. While both are created, written and centered around their comedian’s comedic abilities and personalities, that’s about as far as the comparisons go for these two.
Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll is a broader, more juvenile project than Rescue Me — and given where the show went, that’s saying something — but it’s also the most self-deprecating and playful thing Leary's created under his own control. His tongue is pretty firmly on the cheek here, and he's not afraid to be the butt of the joke. Despite casting himself as Johnny Rock, the legendary druggie/alcoholic leader singer of the acclaimed rock band The Heathens, it's no vanity project. Though Leary's character supposedly influenced Nirvana — as confessed by guest star Dave Grohl in a faux interview — he's fallen hard on bad times. He's got no gigs, every band member hates him for sleeping with their women and his agent drops for booking less than his trained monkey (literally). Johnny make think the jokes on these pretentious, up-and-coming millennial singers, but in actually Leary's taking a piss not just at them, but at the prideful, hyper-egoed and poorly aged rock stars of late and, well, just about everyone else in the process.
It doesn’t mean well, and its cleverness comes only to a point. Yet for all its apparent faults, there’s something unmistakably seductive here. Leary’s voice remains his own. His writing's bumpier, but at the right moment it's still sharp as a tack. Plus his droll delivery often helps smooth out some of these rough patches. And while this may be his encore to the spotlight, his presence pales in comparison to Elizabeth Gilles, the actress behind Johnny’s highly self-aware, accomplished-beyond-her-years daughter, singer Gigi.
Like her character, Gilles is astoundingly confident, ready to pounce in the moment at any time and eager to make the best damn impression possible. It's a bit of a shame, then, this first episode cares more about her looks than personality. Most of her time on screen is spent under Johnny's sexual gaze (before he realizes their relationship) and as the target of his one-time bandmates, guitarist Flash (John Corbett), drummer Bam Bam (Robert Kelly) and bassist Rehab (John Ales), lengthy discussion on naughty names for her body parts. And here comes the most pressing concern for FX's latest.
Like Rescue Me, Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll sadly often treats woman as sex objects over actual living/breathing people. There’s an unforgiving sliminess here with most of its driving action centered on whether or not Flash sleeps with Johnny’s daughter as revenge during the next few weeks. There's the promise of something better, but right now it feels a little cheap. This unconformable feeling isn't made better by unintentionally outdated jokes on sucking Bruce Jenner's dick. True the character is meant to be dated as Johnny's celebrity status, but if it's still not funny then it doesn't excuse the behavior.
There are more than a few jokes, however, landing exceptionally, resulting in a salt & pepper show in more ways than one. Leary's doesn't seem all that interesting in infusing any of the tough lessons in toe for his character or the hard-earned drama of his first series, which ultimately will make this a more unsophisticated and emotionally empty effort if this continues. But Leary and the cast remains game, and after stinkers like the Ice Age sequels and Draft Day, Leary certainly could use a hit.
For what it is, though, it’s crass, sleazy, crude and vulgar in ways both right and wrong. Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll isn’t quite tuned out just yet, and it has some work to do if it really wants to gel and groove. Leary's motivations aren’t quite clear, and he doesn’t quite have one man to stick it to. But where the dream may be over for Johnny, thankfully there’s still some creative life in Leary. That is to say: it doesn’t quite rock yet, but I may be inclined to let it roll.
image courtesy of Patrick Harbron/FX