Review: Avenue 5 is a sci-fi comedy about space tourism gone bad

Armando Iannucci’s new HBO sci-fi comedy Avenue 5 is about as Iannucci as you can get. The comedic genius is known for fast-paced storytelling packed with an extraordinary amount of zingers and creative insults, seen in shows like Veep and In the Loop, and movies like the Thick of It and the Death of Stalin. His satirical takedowns usually go for the political jugular, but here he takes on… space tourism?

Welcome to Avenue 5

That’s right - this show is set in the far-flung future, in an interplanetary cruise ship called the Avenue 5. The people onboard are rich, spoiled and thoroughly unprepared for a catastrophic disaster of any kind. So, of course the ship undergoes a catastrophic failure when its systems begin to malfunction - sending the cruise ship far off-course. Engineers estimate that the ship will take years to arrive back to Earth, turning their month-long cruise into a slightly longer vacation in hell. 

Iannucci works best when characters are thrown into total chaos, so it takes all of seven minutes for these events to kick off. We’re given short introductions to all the main players first, though. Hugh Laurie stars as Ryan Clark - the friendly and unflappable captain of Avenue 5. He’s a total hoot throughout, and by far the show’s biggest draw. 

Suzy Nakamura is Iris Kimura, an associate owner who helps out the actual owner of the ship, Herman Judd (Josh Gad). Judd's entire personality is summed up when he asks for the colour of the ship’s restaurant to be changed, saying, “We'd sell more steaks if the restaurant was completely red. That's science, probably.” 

The always-amazing Zach Woods plays Matt Spencer, head of Customer Relations. It becomes very clear as the disaster unfolds however, that Matt is a nihilist who is entirely unsuited for customer relations. He is even told at one point that he should never speak to human beings, to which I agree. 

Rebecca Front plays an incredibly annoying passenger, Karen Kelly and Lenora Crichlow rounds off the main cast as Billie McEvoy. Billie steals the show almost instantly as a stressed-out engineer, running back and forth to fix new problems as they arise, while also coming to the realisation that she might be the only capable crewmember in the entire ship. 

Is it a total catastrophe?

Having loved the Death of Stalin, I was expecting big things from Iannucci’s new space-disaster series - but it was fairly underwhelming, unfortunately. Out of the four episodes we were given to review, the show only really started coming together on the very last episode. While Hugh Laurie is great as a captain struggling to simultaneously keep the ship together while managing its unruly passengers - he can’t quite carry the entire show on his shoulders. 

The story takes a while to get really interesting - with the show starting with one small disaster on Avenue 5, and then escalating things as it goes along. That sounds dramatic and exciting when written down, and to an extent it is, but the series too often meanders off into uninteresting storylines and characters. Matt, the head of Customer Relations, stops being funny way too quickly, and Karen lives up to her name by being as irritating to watch as possible. Hopefully, her character becomes interesting later - but for now, I can’t help but wonder why every other crewmember allows this chaotic passenger into their ranks. 

Iannucci’s shows are known for rapid-fire jokes and biting commentary, but both are somewhat lacking here. There are very few belly-busting lines in the first couple episodes (though it gets funnier as it goes along), and I’m not entirely sure where the show’s focus even is. Is it satirising rich people? Is it a Star Trek spoof? Is it just poking fun at the hospitality industry? The last one seems closest to the mark, but also the most boring option among them. It’s not really topical or relevant, so it lacks the sharp wit of everything else the showrunner usually produces. 

As the show goes on, the comedy gets weirder and weirder - and most of it doesn’t even land. It’s a show about a cruise ship in space, but characters make jokes about wanting hugs and getting divorce counselling. It just isn’t fully embracing its extraterrestrial setting, going for all the wrong punchlines as a result. 

Set phasers to fun

From the four episodes we’ve seen, Avenue 5 takes a while to get going, and lacks the biting commentary that makes all of Iannucci’s other projects so fantastic. As a result, even just standing on its own, it feels sadly lacking. Things did start to pick up on the fourth episode though, so who knows? This show has a lot of potential, and while I can’t see it becoming a smash hit for HBO, it might eventually turn into something special. Right now, however? Things aren’t looking good for Avenue 5 - both the ship and the show. 

***

If supernatural dramas are more your thing, you might want to check out our review of HBO’s The Outsider, which has already begun airing. If you’re looking to catch up, read our list of the top 10 TV shows of 2019!

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