Space Force is the latest offering from television comedy mastermind Greg Daniels, superstar creator of shows that frequently enter the discussion for best series of all time including Parks and Recreation, animated classic King of the Hill and the US version of The Office. With such a prestigious back catalogue, the hype that surrounded his latest military-centric workplace comedy was more than warranted. If that wasn’t enough, Space Force assembled an amazing array of comedic talent as development went on including series lead Steve Carell (who co-wrote the show with Daniels), Lisa Kudrow, Ben Schwartz, Jimmy O. Yang, Fred Willard and the incomparable John Malkovich. All these excellent pieces make it all the more disappointing when the final product is as bad as Space Force is. When you can count the number of genuinely funny or even mildly chuckle-worthy moments on one hand you know that your comedy isn’t doing its job and it seems that the writing is to blame here, with Carell and Daniels unable to really decide on what Space Force is supposed to be. Is it a kooky workplace comedy like The Office? Is it a political satire, as the series’ Trump-inspired title and premise suggests? The answer is somehow both at times but mostly neither, with the resulting product a hellishly unfunny slog to get through. Strap me to a chair and force me to watch all of Adam Sandler’s Jack and Jill on repeat for 10 hours and I’d have a better time than one episode of Space Force.
Right off the bat the show seems like a misfire in its intent. Cracking a joke about Donald Trump definitely isn’t a new concept and many shows and movies have been doing it since his election in 2016 – to admittedly mixed results – because while the man is a ridiculously easy target, jokes need to still hit the right notes with some finesse to stand out. Space Force lives and dies on the idea that Trump’s admittedly silly idea to create a new branch of the military dedicated to conquering space is the funniest and most ridiculous thing anybody has ever said, enough that they felt the need to make an entire show to prove to the man just how ridiculous he is (as if he’s not constantly watching replays of himself on The Apprentice). Carell and Daniels have seemingly been so swept up in the absolute hilarity of this practical joke that they forgot to give any thought to whether Space Force actually works as a show. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t. It’s not clear if the assembly of its fantastic comedic cast is simply to double down on the joke (let’s get one of the best working actors in John Malkovich to do something in this Trump roast) or whether they were all very interested in the idea. Either way, they’re all completely wasted. But I digress; let’s get to the plot.
Space Force revolves around Mark Naird (Carell), a recently promoted 4 star General who has been tasked with heading up the newest eponymous branch of the military. To the other branch heads (Jane Lynch, Patrick Warburton, Noah Emmerich & Diedrich Bader), Space Force is a joke, a mockery of the military that will surely be the downfall of Naird, but the man himself is determined to turn the ragtag group into a legitimate military force on par with the Navy and Army. Surrounding himself with a cast of colourful characters including Chief Scientist Dr Adrian Mallory (Malkovich), Mallory’s assistant Dr Chan Kaifang (Jimmy O. Wang), Head of Social Media F. Tony Scarapiducci (Ben Schwartz) and his trusty assistant Brad (Don Lake), Naird deals with the day to day problems of not only getting to and establishing a base on the moon and but dealing with constant advancements by rival countries China and India. Add to that the added stress of being a single father to teenage daughter Erin (Diana Silvers) since Naird’s wife Maggie (Lisa Kudrow) is in prison for an undisclosed reason and you have yourself a tightly wound man (and remember this is supposedly a comedy) who is in desperate need of shenanigans.
Unfortunately for Naird, those shenanigans are awful. It’s plain to just about everyone with a set of eyes and ears that Donald Trump is something of a deviant, but a 3 episode story arc about the President incentivising Mark to catch a spy within his Force by inexplicably denying him a conjugal visit with his wife is just overkill. There’s no subtlety to it at all and that applies to just about every joke. There’s a joke about all Asian people liking K-Pop; a joke about Trump’s dislike for the African-American community and a joke about people from the South having learning disabilities; and believe me, I use the term “joke” loosely. More often than not, the show just forces these jokes down your throat without a punchline or any comedic value at all: a man from Alabama speaks in a stereotypical drawl and says some stupid things, implying people from the South (AKA Trump supporters to the writers) are stupid. It’s offensive and crass and perhaps worst of all: not funny. It’s simply ridiculous that the man who co-wrote and starred in The 40 Year-Old Virgin has written jokes this unfunny. Hell, the conjugal visit storyline is almost a cut-copy of that film, with Naird being separated from his wife for 6 months. Give me old good jokes rather than terrible ones. Daniels also struggles to produce anything special too, with the man responsible for some of the greatest comedies of all time unable to crack a smile let alone draw genuine laughs here. Sure, the first seasons of both The Office and Parks and Recreation weren’t spectacular, but they at least showed potential, whereas I will (thankfully) never allow myself to view this atrocity again.
It’s clear that everyone involved can and have done good things, and that’s not to say that anyone involved here isn’t trying. It’s simply that the show’s premise is such a huge misfire and everyone was so smitten with the idea that they forgot to write decent characters or jokes. Malkovich and Ben Schwartz are really the only standouts to be found. Malkovich simply can’t do anything wrong and brings a dry sarcastic wit to the Chief Scientist, with his exhaustion at Naird’s incompetence almost a surrogate for the audiences complete disinterest in the show itself. Nevertheless there are a few moments that attempt to flesh out Mallory’s character and Malkovich pulls them off with ease, making you feel ever so slightly for him as he is constantly shouted down and generally mistreated. Schwartz, who is now the voice of the highest grossing video-game film icon Sonic the Hedgehog, is clearly drawing on his other Daniels’ created character from Parks and Recreation: Jean-Ralphio Saperstein. The man simply oozes energy and charisma and no amount of terrible jokes can stop him from giving his all in the delivery, creating a few laughs simply from his actions and general body language, rather than the words themselves. He is a huge boon to the series and is criminally underused in the first season, however I would much rather see him lead his own series than return for the (unfortunately) inevitable second season.
From the preceding words you may have come to the conclusion that I hate Space Force and I’d have to say you’re pretty close. It’s hard to pinpoint another comedy series with this much potential and hype which has misfired so totally, so completely, that I’d rather scratch my eyes out than watch another frame. Steve Carell has graced us with easily his worst performance here, right alongside the abysmal Dinner for Schmucks and Daniels has unfortunately broken that winning television streak he has spent years cultivating. If there is a lesson to take from Space Force, however, it is surely that your central idea needs to come from a place of genuine love for comedy and a desire to make people laugh; not to aggressively and badly roast a political figure in a way that only serves to turn people off your work, rather than a man who half the known world already despises.
Space Force stars Steve Carell, John Malkovich, Diana Silvers, Lisa Kudrow, Jimmy O. Wang, Don Lake, Patrick Warburton, Jane Lynch, Noah Emmerich & Ben Schwartz – Streaming now on Netflix.