The Big Picture

Apple TV+’s
Bad Monkey
follows Andrew Yancy, a former detective solving a murder mystery in the Florida Keys.

Bad Monkey
, starring Vince Vaughn, resembles
Reacher
, with a comedic twist and a convoluted yet engaging plot.

Bad Monkey
features Vaughn’s strong performance in a chaotic role, balanced by a supporting cast that often feels too expansive.

If you’ve ever stepped into an airport bookstore, there’s a good chance you’ve seen the name Carl Hiaasen. The bestselling author and journalist is well-known for his sunbleached, Florida-set crime novels, with memorable titles like Strip Tease, Tourist Season, and Bad Monkey among them. His work has been adapted for the screen before — most infamously with a particular Demi Moore movie back in 1996. However, in a streaming age where series like Reacher and The Lincoln Lawyer dominate the charts, now feels like the perfect time for Hollywood to attempt to re-adapt one of Hiaasen’s works.

Apple TV+’s adaptation of Bad Monkey pairs Hiaasen’s storytelling with a recognizable star in the form of Vince Vaughn, in his first leading role on television since True Detective Season 2, and Bill Lawrence, whose career has flourished in the wake of creating series like Ted Lasso and Shrinking. With this kind of pedigree, Bad Monkey has everything it needs to be a hit for Apple TV+. There’s just one thing: it’s been in development for over two years and has seemingly been dumped onto the streamer with minimal fanfare. Given the level of talent attached, it’s hard not to at least have some interest in the series — but does Bad Monkey actually deliver in terms of expectations?

Bad Monkey Bad Monkey follows Andrew Yancy, a former Miami detective demoted to restaurant inspector in the Florida Keys. When a tourist finds a severed arm while fishing, Yancy sees an opportunity to regain his badge by unraveling a web of greed and corruption. Along the way, he encounters a cast of quirky characters and a troublesome monkey.Release Date August 13, 2024 Main Genre Crime Seasons 1

What Is ‘Bad Monkey’ About?
Based on the 2013 novel of the same name, Bad Monkey kicks off when a team of sport fishermen discovers a severed arm in the ocean, with its middle finger permanently extended in the flipping-off position. In order to avoid bad press, former police detective-turned-restaurant inspector Andrew Yancy (Vaughn) is tasked with taking possession of the arm and hiding it before the news leaks. The series also spends an equal amount of time focusing on Neville Stafford (Ronald Peet), a Bahamian fisherman whose childhood home has been destroyed and replaced with a new development by a wealthy businessman named Christopher (Rob Delaney) and his younger and shrill significant other, Eve (Meredith Hagner). Seeking revenge, Neville strikes an unholy deal with a spiritual shaman known as the Dragon Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith). As bodies begin piling up, Yancy begins to realize that there’s much more to this severed arm than meets the eye — and he soon finds himself at odds with the very same people he worked alongside for years.

Vince Vaughn Is a Hilarious Agent of Chaos in ‘Bad Monkey’

Bad Monkey, for better and for worse — but mostly for better — operates as a Reacher clone, with Vaughn filling in for Alan Ritchson. The series has all the twists, turns, corruption, and mysteries that populate the aforementioned series, just with a much more overt comedic tone. If you like Reacher, you’ll probably like Bad Monkey, but it also depends on how much you like Vaughn as a performer.

In Apple TV+’s new series, Vaughn leans fully into his fast-talking and wise-ass personality, one that viewers have either come to be fans of or absolutely cannot stand. That said, Vaughn is perfect for Bad Monkey, with his portrayal of Yancy utterly fitting the mold of one of the series’ many Florida Man-like figures. He’s charismatic, but he’s also an agent of pure and utter chaos. Vaughn is having a blast with the role, and even if he is just playing an iteration of the same character he’s inhabited before, he’s exactly the kind of actor who makes all the sense in the world to lead a Reacher-esque show with a black comedy twist.

‘Bad Monkey’s Mystery Becomes Too Convoluted for Its Own Good

However, Bad Monkey’s mystery begins to stretch thin as the series goes on. With 10 45-minute-plus episodes, there’s only so much that can happen before things start feeling more and more repetitive. Much like another major Apple TV+ adaptation this summer, Presumed Innocent, Bad Monkey loves to end its episodes with cliffhangers that are mostly resolved within the first minute of the following installment. In some ways, a series like Bad Monkey could have benefited from a more bingeable release strategy, but in other ways, the show does find ways to keep you watching. Even if Bad Monkey’s plot does become a bit too sprawling and convoluted for its own good, it always remains intriguing.

However, some of the show’s subplots frustratingly lead nowhere. The always-reliable Michelle Monaghan shows up as Bonnie Witt, a former lover of Yancy’s, but her arc throughout the series doesn’t add too much to the central mystery; moreover, her purpose only feels like it is there to serve Yancy’s new romance with Natalie Martinez’s Rosa. Monaghan, thankfully, still does a great job with the role despite the lack of material she’s afforded. In fact, the entire supporting cast delivers the utmost commitment to their roles. John Ortiz is a scene stealer as Yancy’s friend and former partner Rogelio, who’s going through some relationship entanglements of his own, and it’s also amusing to see Delaney and Hagner channel their comedic personas to take on two far darker and more sinister roles than what we normally see from them. Bad Monkey may not be perfect, but, much like its source material, it feels like the perfect kind of summer viewing material. With a charismatic cast and a mostly compelling mystery, this series is another overall win for both Lawrence and Apple TV+.

REVIEW Bad Monkey Bad Monkey is a massively entertaining dark comedy series with a terrific performance from Vince Vaughn.ProsVince Vaughn plays to all of his greatest strengths as the fast-talking and snarky Andrew Yancy.The episode-by-episode cliffhangers help keep you engaged in the series.Bad Monkey capably fills the void left by Reacher. ConsThe story becomes convoluted thanks to the sheer number of characters involved.

Bad Monkey premieres on Apple TV+ on August 14.

Watch on Apple TV+