Futureman: Natal Attraction Review

This loopy time travel comedy doesn’t reach the levels of dumb absurdity that the recently cancelled Adam Paley vehicle “Making History” reached, but apples to oranges. This show comes to us via Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg so it’s got its share of sophomoric stupidity along with a typical Seth Rogenesque hero-an aimless schlub of a man child- at the center. On the other hand the show has its moments and is versed in genre conventions at a level that’s more Dan Harmon than what you’d expect from Rogen and Goldberg.

This week, Josh Futterman relives the icky stuff from "Back to the Future" as he encounters his mom and dad at the party where they meet and tries to not get in the way but ends up causing more damage through his oedipal sex appeal a la Marty McFly. Without spoiling things, this episode really crosses a moral line into grossness. Whether it’s pushing the envelope or just being gross for the sake of gross is a fine line that separates frattish humor from comedy with a universal appeal. In this case, it’s a close call: At least Josh is a strong enough comic character (mostly through an intriguing mix of blank idiocy and occasional competence) to pull off such moments.

What makes things a bit lighter is that the "fun" part of this episode is presaged by the more plot-important part of Futterman convincing Kronish to change his path.

In the interim, Wolfe falls in love with the 1980’s and somehow becomes a rock star (I would’ve rewatched or at least read a synopsis to figure out how exactly this happened but is there a point?) and Tiger hatches a plan to get to him by recruiting some die hard teenage fans. Tiger and Wolfe are both defined by being hard-as-nails which means that the highest comic potential is with their interaction with some of the past’s softer figures of which tweeny bopper fans fall at the lower end of the totem pole. Eliza trying to turn the teens into a dystopic army is fun but they don’t stick with the premise too long.