Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Fifth SeasonMoney. Security. Famous Friends. Forgiving wife. Devoted agent. Larry David has it all – except, perhaps, his identity. This season, Larry takes a sentimental journey in search of his roots, stepping on a few toes along the way. DVD Features: The cover art for HBO’s comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Fifth Season implies that the series’ star Larry David is Everyman. Larry is not Everyman; in fact, he is far from it. Somewhat of an amalgam of the Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer characters he co-created for Seinfeld, yet so uniquely Larry, his socially inept behavior is the basis for and the best part of the show. This fifth season holds no exceptions to the world oblivious to social graces that is Larry David’s. Larry tackles some tough issues, his main conundrum being the fact that his close friend Richard Lewis (comedian Richard Lewis playing himself) needs a new kidney. Season 5 slants towards Larry’s soul searching: will he take the donor test? Is he a match? What will he do if he is a match? We see how far Larry will go to help his friend in need: staging car accidents, fake marriages, and more. We think we see some depth to Larry when he suspects he may be adopted and cheerfully embarks on a search to find his “real” parents, but are reminded how things really are, when he throws morality out the window, striking up a friendship with the known sexual predator in the neighborhood in order to improve his golf game. Of course there is the very Seinfeld feel to this show in general, the tone, the self-involved lead character–and in the first few episodes there are actual storylines and even spoken lines taken almost verbatim from Seinfeld episodes, so much so that an avid Seinfeld fan may start to lose patience. Stick with it, though, because the Seinfeld-ian similarities wind down through the second half of the season and the Curb your Enthusiasm hilarity revs up. –Rachel Moss
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(out of 80 reviews)
Review by Danny Rizzi for Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Fifth Season
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3.5 stars is more like it, but there aren’t any half ratings. I’ve been a HUGE Curb fan for a while now and do not understand all the criticism heaped at the show this season. Last season, I would have understood. But Curb came back in a big way for its 5th season. The 4th was ruined imo by the Producers storyline which really didn’t fit the show at all. But this 5th season, though maybe not as good as anything done in the first 3 seasons, still had me laughing quite a bit. I’m hoping Larry doesn’t take to heart the criticism of the addle-brained (probably many of the same people who denigrated the unfairly cancelled Lisa Kudrow vehicle “The Comeback” before giving it a fair shot). And there’s no word yet on whether or not there will be a 6th season, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Review by 33 year old lawyer for Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Fifth Season
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I find it odd that some posters say this is not a good season…I totally disagree. I find that the later seasons are better than the early ones for this series. In the first few seasons, the level of altercations that Larry got himself into, and the manic quality of Richard Lewis, really kind of grated on my nerves. Suzie, as well. There were just some episodes that seemed to have too much screaming all around for my nerves.
This season is mellower overall, and in my opinion, as entertaining, if not more so, than the previous seasons. I would venture to say it is best season ever, although I missed season 4, so I can’t actually say that. This season has all the charm and laughs and quirkiness, less of the screaming. The Jewish/Christian humor is a major theme of this season, and the episode featuring Larry’s trip to an imagined heaven, and his trip to his Christian birth parents, were absolutely laugh out loud hysterical. There are some nice cameos by Dustin Hoffman and Sascha Baron Cohen (Borat), and Bea Arthur, as Larry’s deceased mother. I also thought the episode where Larry pretends to be an Orthodox Jew hysterical, especially when he he keeps trying to attempt Yiddish. Now that Woody Allen seems to have lost his sense of humor, there are few comedians around who can explore these issues in a funny way. I also enjoyed the Lesbians episode a lot. Rosie O’Donnell does a good cameo in that one. And, as people have pointed out, the sex offender with golf tips was another highlight. Larry’s dad has some entertaining moments in this season also, such as in the sandwich episode and Larry’s death episode. Richard Lewis needs a kidney transplant this season, and consequently is mostly portrayed in bed or ill, and thus is not nearly as manic and annoying as he was in the early seasons.
My only complaint about this season, and it is a very small one, is that Wanda Sykes showed up in only one episode. She is hysterical and I would have liked to see more of her…
Review by N. E. Morrow for Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Fifth Season
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I’m a big fan of CYE and a lot of people have asked me what I think of season 5, so here’s my review:
Pretty good. Prettyyyyyy, pretttyyyyyyy, pretttttyyyyyyyyyyyy, prettyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, pretyyyyyy good. It’s pretty good.
Hope you find this helpful.
Review by Lee LaFarge for Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Fifth Season
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Yes, it may not be the funniest season although I laughed my butt off every episode! I love this season for taking on the big issues of life, death and self-sacrifice in such a brilliant way.
It’s a thin tightrope to walk when dealing with matters of religion and people’s perceptions of death in a comedic way. Larry walks that rope fearlessly and deftly.
The last episode itself is worth 5 stars! I kept expecting it be resolved with the old “it was all a dream” contrivance. I should have known Larry was better than that.
Ignore the critics, Mr. David. Please don’t stop raising the bar and making your fans laugh their butts off! You are truly brilliant!
Review by Jeff for Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Fifth Season
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My wife and I have all the Curb DVD’s and enjoy the laughter the Curb cast offers us before bedtime. It is truly life imitating art, letting me in on a secret – I’m not alone when it comes to being misunderstood. The cast is so attuned and compatible and it comes across through their honesty. The episodes have similar formulas, if you will, but then so did the Honeymooners. If you enjoyed the Honeymooners, then you will be a fan of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Larry David and company are pure genius. How can anyone not like Larry! I’m addicted to Curb. IT IS GREAT!