“#1 happy family USA“Opens on September 10, 2001 – a day like everyone else.
For the family Hussein means that Rumi (expressed by Ramy Youssef) wakes up to put on his new, oversized, knock-off Michael Jordan Jersey. (Instead of No. 23, there are double zeros, and instead of “bulls” it says “balls.”) Before he can complain, his father barking him for having cost the family too much money. (A written division of his monthly expenses includes $ 4.71 for “video game electricity”, $ 5.61 for fruit rolls and $ 314.05 for “Poke-man” short.) his sister Mona (Alia Shawkat) Meanwhile do nothing wrong. Her expenses are the lowest in the household, making her dad’s favorite – “I love you most“He says, kissing her on the forehead. Rumi’s mother Sharia (Salma Hindy) tries to defend her son, but she has her hands full of her own parents. Grandpa is a religious purist and demands to put on the Qur’an over breakfast and promises her own daughter that she” rotts in hell “with her mother (his mother (his mother wife), as he touches for looking too much TV.
Vibes is … not good, but they are also undiluted. It is a house filled with love in the form of chaos, and it is easy to discover everyone’s routines and priorities, just as it is easy to see how they have all adapted to accommodate each other. When Hussein (the full name of the father is Hussein Hussein), gently ask her mother -in -law to turn off the TV to save energy and save money, she whips the power cord to the face without taking her eyes off the screen. Mona plays her father’s system by manipulating the electric panel to lower his own hours (thus currying his advantage), and they do all their best to ignore the grandfather’s outdated walks, and know that it is better to let him jab on than to try to correct a stubborn old man’s sub -part views.
But their routines, their customs and their lives are about to change. As everyone who looks at already knows and as Husseins is about to find out, the difference between living in America is like a Muslim family on September 10 and living in America as a Muslim family on September 11. Existing prejudices are enlarged and neutral positions become hostile. It is an era of “see something, say something” (without any clarity on what either “something” should be), the state of surveillance (without end in sight) and Fox News (rest in hell, Roger Ailes).
At the top of reviving the acute feelings of fear, confusion and anger that are bound to the years immediately after Osama bin Laden’s attacks, “#1 Happy Family USA” arrives at a time when similar feelings among immigrant communities again tops. Reports on illegal searches, interns and deportations overwhelm the news cycle. People are asked to escape, if they have resources or stay away, if they are already out in the country. Are we at the cliff of a constitutional crisis, or is it already here?
So … who is ready to laugh? Well, ready or not, anyone who is willing to try “#1 happy family USA” will have a hard time holding back. Created by Youssef (“Frames”) and Pam Brady (“South Park”, Amazon Prime Video Original has no company that is as fun as its first season turns out to be. Bombarded with jokes, spoken and visualized, while reinforced by colorful, period-plain animations (in a note to critics, Youssef said: “We had to have to disparage Our computers to get the look we wanted “)”#1 Happy Family USA “exerts their black-comic extension with sweeping breadth while still honoring the pain and terror as Muslims and immigrants trying to survive in America without losing themselves.
Most of the sections are centered around Rumi, a not so subtle avatar for Ramy YoussefWhich in 2001 was also a young Muslim boy who lived in New Jersey with his Egyptian parents. Rumi wants what most children his age wants: to do the basketball team, fit into school and have sex with his teacher, which he will eventually get married (after she comes out of prison – you know, because of the statutory rape).
But after 9/11, Rumi goes down in “a social death spiral.” During the show and story, his classmates ask him why he hates America. They disintegrate him from parties, and even his friends are struggling to understand what he is going through. Rumi tries everything to get back to the life he had had before. He learns about code change from his friend Marcus, who is black. He tries to trick his family into moving away and think that life would be easier elsewhere. He even gets the help of President George W. Bush, after “caught” illegally downloaded music and is asked by a pop-up to contact “Curious_george_Bush43” via Aol Instant Messenger.
His father does not do better. Hussein (also expressed by Youssef) was a surgeon in Egypt, but now he is the proud owner of a Halal car, which he park outside the Fox News head office in Manhattan. Only now no one wants to eat “strange meat”, so he agrees to show up on television as “Halal Harry” in the hope of proven his patriotism. It’s really everything Hussein can focus on longer. When he leaves the house, he shaves his bushy beard to a thin mustache, bangs on a polo with Khakis and breaks his religious principles to drink beer like “a real American.” (The animation captures the family’s transformations with a glitchy electric current, such as their brown skin and colorful personalities being zipped directly out of them, so they can fit into the white world.)
As over-the-top as his behavior can be, you can’t blame Hussein. He is under constant surveillance at home thanks to a new neighbor who only happens to work for the FBI (perfectly expressed by Timothy Olyphant), and his brother has already been taken in by the authorities, Sans guarantees or explains. All this makes Sharias refusal to disprove its identity all the more admirable and nerve-wracking. She carries her hijab everywhere, outside the house and within, including at work. Fortunately, her manager (Kieran Culkin) is supportive – dance on the border between appropriate consideration and cultural grant – even though his insurance is far from universal.
“#1 Happy Family USA’s” pure episodic structure allows it to take the familiar shape on its animated companion – A consistently funny, animated Family Sitcom for adults – while they are still strengthening through their distinct perspective and story. One section sees Hussein trying to make friends with Dan, his new neighbor, except that the efforts are much higher than your typical domestic drama because Dan can also live across the street to spy on Hussein and his family. Another section sees Mona running for the class president, but the excitement does not boil down to whether she wins or loses; It is centered on the fact that she is gay and feels that she has to hide it to her family even more than her classmates. Another post follows Rumi when he joins a Satan-worshiping rock band, but the goal is not only to extract him before he lasts damage to his vocal chords; It is to understand the painful feelings that he can only convey through clinging.
In the middle of the jokes’ attack-I have not even found time to mention Lamby, a heart-melting adorable lamb family would sacrifice before she started talking to Rumi, but who still, very much, wants to die-“#1 Happy Family” makes time to recognize the darkness that drives its dark comedy. Husseins live in fear – fear of being deported, harassed or worse. That fear forces them to assimilate, which can cause them to betray their core ideals. It is a difficult and confusing time for someone, but even more for a developing child like Rumi.
“#1 Happy Family USA” can be too difficult for some audience to sit through. It is far from me to tell someone what their comfort level is by 2025, but assessed by the high bar it set for itself, as well as the subjective impression of this very white critic, the animated comedy is an impressive performance. Funny and sad, excessive and honest, Youssef and Brady’s series offer Escape and Catharsis, at the same time.
Rating: B+
“#1 Happy Family USA” premieres Thursday April 17 on Amazon Prime Video. All eight episodes of Season 1 will be released at once.
