The Pentaverate, the long-awaited return of Mike Myers to a comedy he wrote, has enough solid laughs for a 90-minute movie.
Unfortunately, it’s a six-episode-long miniseries. While this is better than crap like The Love Guru, it’s not that much better—and ultimately, it’s a bit of a letdown.
Things get off to a fast start with some crude toilet humor, British-style, as Myers unspools the story of the Pentaverate, a secret, illuminati-like society that rules the world and was mentioned in his So I Married an Axe Murderer. (Col. Sanders features prominently.) I actually got excited during the first episode, because I laughed a lot, so I started texting friends that the show was making me laugh. It was a knee-jerk reaction for sure.
Myers plays many characters, and he plays them well, but the narrative is stretched wafer-thin over the six episodes—to the point where the jokes just repeat themselves. The first time Sasquatch takes a shit in the hallway? Pretty funny. The second time? Not so much.
The Pentaverate tries to be comedy with a conscience, but a comedy about how we need to get it together regarding global warming is contradictory when it features so many farts that the gaseous emissions could blast a hole through the ozone.
The supporting cast includes Keegan-Michael Key, Debi Mazar, Ken Jeong and Jennifer Saunders, and they each have their moments. Most of the good laughs come from Myers as he unabashedly deliveries large amounts of vulgarities free from the restraints of a PG-13 rating. (As a Netflix show, it has no MPAA rating, but it would be a solid R for sure.)
It reminds of the naughtier moments from the Austin Powers series, with the profanity significantly amplified. There are a couple of semi-funny moments when somebody from Netflix breaks the fourth wall, steps in, and explains that they are trying to get loose-cannon Myers under control.
While the first episode was funny, the show became numbing by episode 4, and downright irritating by the time it had finished. Still, if you’ve missed Myers in his more-bizarre mode, you might find this worth a look in small doses. Just don’t binge it like I did. I may’ve suffered from a little bit of toilet-humor overdose.
The Pentaverate is now streaming on Netflix.
