If I ever met the Florida journalist and novelist Carl Hiaasen, I would ask permission to eschew a mere handshake for a hug. That’s how much I’ve loved Hiassen’s bounty of novels, which are regularly populated with uniquely memorable, larger-than-life, eccentric characters, and brimming with razor-sharp satire of political corruption and unapologetic advocacy for environmentalism.
Alas, a couple of attempts at translating Hiaassen’s bold and outrageous work to the big screen have crashed and burned in spectacularly terrible fashion. The 1996 adaptation of “Strip Tease” was a badly bungled embarrassment starring a terribly miscast Demi Moore in a role that screamed for someone with true comedic chops, and the big-screen treatment of the wonderful children’s mystery novel “Hoot” in 2006 was a heavy-handed flop.
Now, the good news. With executive producer Bill Lawrence (co-creator of “Ted Lasso” and “Shrinking”) running the show and a sparkling ensemble led by Vince Vaughn, Jodie Turner-Smith, Michelle Monaghan and Natalie Martinez, the 10-part Apple TV+ adaptation of Hiaasen’s 2013 novel “Bad Monkey” pulls off the tricky feat of retaining the juicy, outlandish and wickedly funny elements of the source material in immensely entertaining fashion. This is a densely plotted yet easily consumed South Florida mystery/comedy/drama with some fantastic and often bloody twists and turns, and a finale that neatly wraps up this story while holding the promising of more seasons to come. (And that would be most welcome.)
Vince Vaughn puts his signature fast-talking persona to great use as Andrew Yancy, a police detective for Monroe County in the Florida Keys who is currently on suspension and has had to take a gig as a restaurant inspector, aka “food cop.” When a sportfishing bro in the Keys reels in a severed human arm, the incompetent Monroe County Sheriff Sonny Summers (Todd Allen Durkin) enlists Andrew to transport the arm to Miami so that the investigation will be dumped into the lap of the Dade County authorities. This sets off a chain of events involving colorful characters in south Florida and the Bahamas (the location shots are as gorgeous as you’d expect), with multiple storylines advancing on parallel paths before eventually intertwining, resulting in consistent hilarity but also quite a bit of bloodshed.
Natalie Martinez gives a sizzling performance and has instant chemistry with Vaughn as Rosa Campesino, a medical examiner in Miami who calls out Yancy for his glibness but finds herself playing amateur detective and teaming up with Yancy to investigate this bizarre murder, despite her better instincts. Michelle Monaghan kills in a femme fatale role as Yancy’s on-and-off girlfriend, who has a dark secret in her past. (That particular backstory might be off-putting for some viewers.)
A murder victim is identified via DNA testing, and a funeral service is held with just the arm in the casket, but something about the whole thing doesn’t sit right with Yancy. For one thing, the grieving widow Eve Stripling (an excellent Meredith Hagner) stands to inherit a whopping lump sum, and she doesn’t seem all that broken up about the death of her husband.
We’re just getting warmed up with the madness. On the island of Andros in the Bahamas, a laid-back fisherman named Neville Stafford (Ronald Peet), whose best friend and constant companion is a capuchin monkey named Driggs, has his life turned upside down when his property is sold by his half-sister and his home is demolished by a developer who is going to build a monstrous waterfront resort. Neville enlists the services of the Dragon Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith, doing award-worthy work), an Obeah-practicing local legend who has inherited her seemingly supernatural powers from her beloved Ya-Ya (L. Scott Caldwell).
A number of other key players are part of the mix, including John Ortiz as Rogelio Burton, a Monroe County police detective and Yancy’s best friend; David St. Louis as “Egg,” a ferocious thug who develops a soft spot for the Dragon Queen, and Rob Delaney in a role we’ll not disclose so as to avoid any spoilers. The rich material requires nearly everyone in the cast to play a variety of notes, from farcical comedy to legitimate drama, and they’re all up to the task. There’s hardly a scene in the entire 10-episode run without a poignant moment or a big laugh or a nifty turn of events. Adding to the magic is a soundtrack filled with Tom Petty covers performed by a variety of artists, including Eddie Vedder, Charlotte Lawrence and Weezer. “Bad Monkey” the TV series is a near-perfect realization of “Bad Monkey” the novel.