Ultra City Smiths

Matt Roush says...

The ultimate “what the hell is this” experience, Ultra City Smiths is what it might feel like watching Chinatown re-enacted by LEGO characters on acid. Patriot’s Steve Conrad collaborates with the studio behind Robot Chicken, which helps explain the Adult Swim vibe in this bizarre spin on film noir using baby-faced dolls as stop-motion-animated puppets. Westworld’s Jimmi Simpson leads the voice cast as insecure rookie detective David Mills, who arrives in Ultra City—which gravel-voiced narrator Tom Waits repeatedly reminds us is where “no one’s dreams come true”—just in time for leading citizen and “last bright hope” mayoral candidate Carpenter K. Smith (Kurtwood Smith) to go missing. The mystery deepens quickly to involve a bunch of other Smiths in an urban hellhole with street hustlers, adolescent gangs in Nixon masks, a giant lady wrestler with Bebe Neuwirth’s incongruous voice and occasional song-and-dance numbers out of nowhere. I’m not sure if I was charmed or creeped out. Much like the channel’s Kevin Can F**k Himself, it’s an intriguing premise that I can’t imagine very many actually enjoying watching. The first two of six episodes drop this week, with AMC on tap to air it this fall. We’ll see.

What's Worth Watching (Jul 22)