Angry Boys (HBO) - Series Premiere: Review

As a co-production between the Australian Broadcasting Channel and HBO with pre-sales to the British BBC Three, ‘Angry Boys’ has aired in Australia, the United Kingdom, and America. It is created, written and directed by Australian comedian Chris Lilley, who is known for his mockumentary style series. All main roles are played by Lilley himself, and some characters return from his earlier series ‘We Can Be Heroes’.
The series revolves around several young males and their families throughout Australia, Los Angeles and Tokyo, landing themselves in all kinds of supposedly hilarious situations.

Even though the show is a hit in Australia there were also lots of people who thought the show lacked funniness. After seeing the premiere in America I must agree with them. The show wasn’t funny, it was actually quite offensive. Daniel keeps making fun of his deaf brother Nathan, which, after two jokes, just isn’t funny anymore. Then there is Gran, Nathan and Daniel’s grandmother, who keeps making racist comments during her work at the Sydney Garingal Juvenile Justice Centre. The storyline involving Gran is quite implausible, if you ask me. As far as the other storylines go, S.mouse, Jen Okazaki and Blake Oakfield; they have not yet been shown in the first episode. However, I have no doubt they will be just as ridiculous as the ones we already saw in episode one. The whole show just doesn’t make any sense and I don’t think it is fit for American television, or any other television, for that matter.