Roush Review: TV’s Wackiest Family Returns in Hilarious ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ Reunion

Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair

Matt's Rating:

“And someone actually asked for more of this,” muses the voice of Bryan Cranston, following a rapid-fire montage intro of silly slapstick antics and grody sight gags from Malcolm in the Middle‘s seven-season reign of side-splitting domestic terror from the early 2000s.

If I’d known it was that easy, I’d have asked long ago.

Returning on Hulu after a 20-year hiatus, older for sure but defiantly none the wiser, Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair is a raucous hoot of a four-episode reunion that, unlike so many shows on streaming or just about anywhere, leaves us wanting much more. Yet we’re also happily satisfied with the reboot’s breezy, boisterous brevity. The only one who isn’t thrilled to be welcomed back into the family fold is, not surprisingly, Malcolm (Frankie Muniz, anxious as ever).

“My life is fantastic now,” he announces, still talking into the camera so as to distance himself from the idiots in his midst. “I’m happy, I’m successful,” Malcolm brags of his virtue-signaling non-profit job. “All I had to do was stay completely away from my family.”

David Bukach / Hulu / Disney

Ah, but the ties that bind are destined to ensnare the one purportedly sane member of an unfiltered clan that dares not reveal their last name. Malcolm’s parents, Lois (the hilariously volatile Jane Kaczmarek) and Hal (Cranston, adorably daffy), are planning a 40^th-anniversary celebration, and it wouldn’t be the same without their token genius, who purposely has moved several airport transfer stops away to maintain his sanity.

Also to protect his daughter, Leah (Keeley Karsten), who has inherited her father’s penchant for breaking the fourth wall to address the camera. “It’s a rich inner life,” Leah confesses, obviously ironically, because Malcolm’s cautiously chill approach to single parenthood has proved to be as warping as Lois and Hal’s anything-goes anarchy. An insecure social outsider at her school, Leah barks at Malcolm, “Why did you have to be so gentle with me growing up? I have no armor.” She’s going to need it when Malcolm’s carefully constructed walls are breached, and Leah learns what and who he’s been hiding, and vice versa, landing Malcolm once again in the middle of chaos, with plenty of explaining to do.

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For all of its manic knockabout energy and belly-laugh shamelessness — a running gag about diarrhea during an especially fraught conversation is much funnier than it deserves to be — Malcolm remains at heart an affirming family comedy with a deep reservoir of affection for its bizarre characters. You see it in Hal’s over-the-top grand gestures that both amuse and appall Lois. Also in Lois’s determination to take control of the anniversary party to make Hal the center of attention for once. Hal is so devoted to family that when he’s confronted with a series of thoughtless betrayals, he goes into a deep, hallucinatory existential funk.

Even among the squabbling siblings — Christopher Masterson (Francis) and Justin Berfield (Reese) returning, with Caleb Ellsworth-Clark stepping in for Erik Per Sullivan as Dewey, Anthony Timpano as a grown Jamie, and Vaughan Murrae as Kelly, the non-binary youngest and, like Malcolm, often the smartest in the room — there’s a sense that when it matters, they’ll always have each other’s back. Including Malcolm’s, despite his description to Leah of the family dynamic: “Think of it like they’re the full moon and we’re werewolves.”

Howling, with laughter, is the best response to the new Malcolm. What a treat to have them back, even if just for a few ridiculously enjoyable hours.

Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair, Series Premiere (four episodes), Friday, April 10, Hulu