Laura Dern communicates pain, confusion and a New Age-y quest for self-improvement as Amy, the off-beat protagonist in HBO’s new dramedy “Enlightened,” premiering Monday, locally at 7:30 p.m.
Trouble is, we’re dared to emotionally engage with this irritating character, who is quirky to the point of obnoxious even as she presents her tear-stained, mascara-smudged face to the camera.
How much must we suffer to observe Dern playing quirky?
Amy’s life as a health-and-beauty executive comes crashing down when she has a very public meltdown in the workplace after a failed affair with her boss.
She repairs to a treatment center in Hawaii communing with colorful fish, and returns, ready to “flow through her rage” with a grab bag of calming, centering breathing techniques and mantras.
That lasts about as long as it takes her to return to the scene of her meltdown.
She wants to change the world; she doesn’t know how to live in her own skin.
The show looks and feels like a hip indie film. It’s beautiful and unpredictable and, like some indie films, it seems more concerned with being fresh than being true.
Lightly sending up the faux spirituality culture, the focus really is mother-daughter relations. That works only when Helen (Diane Ladd, Dern’s real-life mom) is onscreen.
Helen is as cold and brittle as Amy is warm, fuzzy and eco-friendly.
Luke Wilson is disarming as Amy’s ex-husband, who finds escape in recreational drugs. Dern and co-writer/producer Mike White, who also appears as an office colleague, have created a challenging, that is to say, not so funny comedy, that takes time to reveal itself.
The half-hour follows “Bored to Death” Mondays on HBO, and strives to live up to Jason Schwartzman’s level of comic neurosis. Also aims to rival Showtime’s Edie Falco/Laura Linney femme-angst dramedies.
Dern is gifted, but “Enlightened” is a harder sell.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
