"DIRTY SEXY MONEY: THE COMPLETE AND FINAL SEASON"
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: **1/2 (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: **1/2 (out of 5 stars) STARRING Peter Krause as NICK GEORGE Donald Sutherland as TRIPP DARLING William Baldwin as PATRICK DARLING Natalie Zea as KAREN DARLING Glenn Fitzgerald as BRIAN DARLING Seth Gabel as JEREMY DARLING Jill Clayburgh as LETITIA DARLING Lucy Liu as NOLA LYONS Not Rated Studio: ABC Studios Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
“Dirty Sexy Money” enters its second season six months after the first. Nick (Peter Krause) is in even deeper with the Darlings, and now his marriage is no the rocks. The state is building a case against Letticia Darling (Jill Clayburgh)for murder. Brian Darling (Glenn Fitzgerald) is wrestling with his passion for religion, passion for his wife and son and passion for being a spoiled brat. Lucy Liu comes on the show as a cut-throat lawyer with her eyes on Letticia and her hands on Jeremy (Seth Gabel). Finally, Simon Elder (Blair Underwood) is continuing his scheming to undermine Darling Enterprises.
WHAT I LIKED
I did enjoy the second season of “Dirty Sexy Money” more than I did the first season, simply because the show had finally taken Nick off his high horse. He is no longer looking to save the world and demanding charity payments in kind for working with the Darlings. He’s turned into a more realistic character. The same goes for his wife, and their on-screen relationship seems to be a warning that greed can corrupt almost anyone.
Bringing Nick down a few pegs makes the show more interesting to me (and probably anyone else in the tabloid-reading world) in that it’s more an exercise of self destruction rather than a character-building series. The series is populated with gray characters, and that can be fun if done correctly. Even when the Darlings (or the Georges) have good intentions, they backfire and cause problems. One can only laugh.
Oddly enough, the only character that I really started to care about was Karen Darling (Natalie Zea), whose biggest sin is being a spoiled brat. She ends up with the most depth, and I did find myself feeling a certain level of sympathy with her. It was sad to see Samaire Armstrong leave the cast because I thought her character was at least interesting last year.
Were this series been allowed to breathe for another year or so, it could have turned into something really cool, in a grim social satire sort of way.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
While I really did enjoy watching all the different characters cause problems for one another, the big sticking point in the series continued to be the character of Nick George. Like ABC’s other second season cancellation, “Samantha Who?,” this featured a wishy-washy guy who I really could not find the passion to root for.
In trying to give the show a moral, ethical and character anchor, the writers made Nick George a buzzkill at best. He’s the focus of the show, but he’s a real dud, even after he let his morals slide a bit. I would have had more fun watching a rich and famous version of “Married... with Children” than the semi-softball nature of this series.
DVD FEATURES
The DVD set comes with all season two episodes, in order (which was not how they were initially aired). There’s also a set of bloopers and a slate of deleted scenes from the second season.
Three featurettes give a look behind the scenes. “Directing the Darlings” takes a look at the production from the director’s chair of Jamie Babbit. “A Total Knockout” follows Natalie Zea through the set for a day. And “Dirty Sexy Crafty” introduces the viewers to Josh Kuhn who runs the mobile craft service truck. Trust me, this is more entertaining than it sounds.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Viewers who enjoy watching people with more money than they have self destruct.
