Customer Reviews

Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Fifth Season

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

3.5 stars is more like it, but there aren't any half ratings. I've been a HUGE Curb fan for a while now and do not understand all the criticism heaped at the show this season. Last season, I would have understood. But Curb came back in a big way for its 5th season. The 4th was ruined imo by the Producers storyline which really didn't fit the show at all. But this 5th season, though maybe not as good as anything done in the first 3 seasons, still had me laughing quite a bit. I'm hoping Larry doesn't take to heart the criticism of the addle-brained (probably many of the same people who denigrated the unfairly cancelled Lisa Kudrow vehicle "The Comeback" before giving it a fair shot). And there's no word yet on whether or not there will be a 6th season, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I'm a big fan of CYE and a lot of people have asked me what I think of season 5, so here's my review:

Pretty good. Prettyyyyyy, pretttyyyyyyy, pretttttyyyyyyyyyyyy, prettyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, pretyyyyyy good. It's pretty good.

Hope you find this helpful.

Yes, it may not be the funniest season although I laughed my butt off every episode! I love this season for taking on the big issues of life, death and self-sacrifice in such a brilliant way.
It's a thin tightrope to walk when dealing with matters of religion and people's perceptions of death in a comedic way. Larry walks that rope fearlessly and deftly.
The last episode itself is worth 5 stars! I kept expecting it be resolved with the old "it was all a dream" contrivance. I should have known Larry was better than that.
Ignore the critics, Mr. David. Please don't stop raising the bar and making your fans laugh their butts off! You are truly brilliant!

My wife and I have all the Curb DVD's and enjoy the laughter the Curb cast offers us before bedtime. It is truly life imitating art, letting me in on a secret - I'm not alone when it comes to being misunderstood. The cast is so attuned and compatible and it comes across through their honesty. The episodes have similar formulas, if you will, but then so did the Honeymooners. If you enjoyed the Honeymooners, then you will be a fan of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Larry David and company are pure genius. How can anyone not like Larry! I'm addicted to Curb. IT IS GREAT!

I find it odd that some posters say this is not a good season...I totally disagree. I find that the later seasons are better than the early ones for this series. In the first few seasons, the level of altercations that Larry got himself into, and the manic quality of Richard Lewis, really kind of grated on my nerves. Suzie, as well. There were just some episodes that seemed to have too much screaming all around for my nerves.

This season is mellower overall, and in my opinion, as entertaining, if not more so, than the previous seasons. I would venture to say it is best season ever, although I missed season 4, so I can't actually say that. This season has all the charm and laughs and quirkiness, less of the screaming. The Jewish/Christian humor is a major theme of this season, and the episode featuring Larry's trip to an imagined heaven, and his trip to his Christian birth parents, were absolutely laugh out loud hysterical. There are some nice cameos by Dustin Hoffman and Sascha Baron Cohen (Borat), and Bea Arthur, as Larry's deceased mother. I also thought the episode where Larry pretends to be an Orthodox Jew hysterical, especially when he he keeps trying to attempt Yiddish. Now that Woody Allen seems to have lost his sense of humor, there are few comedians around who can explore these issues in a funny way. I also enjoyed the Lesbians episode a lot. Rosie O'Donnell does a good cameo in that one. And, as people have pointed out, the sex offender with golf tips was another highlight. Larry's dad has some entertaining moments in this season also, such as in the sandwich episode and Larry's death episode. Richard Lewis needs a kidney transplant this season, and consequently is mostly portrayed in bed or ill, and thus is not nearly as manic and annoying as he was in the early seasons.

My only complaint about this season, and it is a very small one, is that Wanda Sykes showed up in only one episode. She is hysterical and I would have liked to see more of her...

I had heard that CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM had jumped the shark with its fifth season, and after watching its first episode, I wondered if the rumors might be true. But I needn't have worried.

I think that what may have happened is that people became overly familiar with the series' highly structured plot formula, wherein Larry ALWAYS gets his comeuppance in the end. But the beauty of the show isn't in seeing the end coming; rather, it's in its wonderful character portrayals and moments of mortification. (I found Cheryl Hines, who plays Larry's wife, to be particularly funny in her reaction shots this season.)

Admittedly, episode six has Seinfeld flashback moments concerning "bathroom contamination" of reading material, but most of this material seems really fresh. I thought the episode where the sex offender is invited to Seder was particularly amusing.

I bought this for my husband for Christmas. We have the first four seasons and can't get enough of this show. If you like "Curb Your Enthusiasm", you won't be disappointed by the 5th season.

Very funny!

Larry is still Larry. Cheryl is still pretty (and thinner this season). Jeff is still heavyset. And Suzie is still shrill. Now in its fifth season, Curb is still funny. Larry hasn't run out of ideas, though sometimes he does recycle some Seinfeld jokes about gay people and taking reading material into the bathroom. But any comedian willing to eat edible undies while caught on a stalled ski lift hasn't lost his touch. Larry may now take his place among Basil Fawlty and Edmund Black Adder in the all-time-funniest-yet uncuddly-sitcom-characters sweepstakes. If you like Larry, you'll like season 5. If you don't, well, you're missing out.... Highlights in this season include Kamikaze Bingo, the Ski Lift, the Smoking Jacket, and the episode involving Larry's racist dog. The finale is also good, in which Larry does a funny impersonation of what it means to be a Gentile. Oy!

This is the GREAT season of the show. Buy it. By the way, Variety is reporting that HBO and Larry David have reached an agreement for another 10 episode season (sixth season) of CYE. The premiere will be in October some time. The show must go on...

Having read some of the reviews, I braced myself to be disappointed with Season 5 of CYE. I needn't have worried; the quality of Seasons 1-4 is still there! Larry is still Larry, and it scares me how much we have in common... except he's brave (or stupid) enough to act it out in public.
Without giving away too much of what happens this Season all I can say is I THOUGHT I knew how to play "Eeny Meeny Miney Moe"... now i'm not so sure...