CLOSE ENOUGH: Brilliant, Hilarious, Over the Top!

Surely I was not the only one to find the animation Close Enough pleasantly familiar. The series by J.G. Quintel, creator of Regular Show, has landed on Netflix. From the beginning, it was therefore clear what could be expected from the production of the American. Absurd humor, a host of exaggerated characters, and a colorful depicted world that only seemingly looks ordinary and innocent. Close Enough is an original, witty, and more mature than the previous story about young adults, served in the familiar and well-liked sauce of nonsense.

The main characters are Josh and Emily – a millennial couple who are struggling with the transitional period of entering the third decade of life. It is a time when it is high time to grow up, settle down, but not yet grow old. In addition, the characters cling tightly to the remnants of their youthful independence, which they try to reconcile with raising their young daughter Candice. They rent an apartment with Alex and Bridgette – a former married couple, now divorced and searching.

The life of Josh and Emily is a constant juggling act, consisting of work, duties, childcare, attempts at fulfilling dreams. And as if that were not enough, everyday difficulties are joined by a gang of vengeful clowns, time-traveling snails, last-chance ham thieves, and murderous store mannequins. As can be seen, Quintel’s comedic workshop has not undergone major changes. The new series, however, has been enriched with a mature subject matter of the problems of the modern world, which young adults face.

There is no time for explanations here. A moment after turning on the first episode, I had to make sure that I had indeed started watching from the beginning and not from the middle. A characteristic feature of Quintel’s productions is the fast pace, as a result of which, after just the first few minutes of the first episode, the viewer is swept into the whirl of brisk action, which flows as if on autopilot and at double speed. We must learn from context who the characters are, since the creators do not bother to present all the most important figures.

There is also no storyline continuity.

Each episode consists of two short, 10-minute autonomous and condensed stories. This dynamism and briskness in storytelling, combined with the characteristic flexible line, brings to mind short comic-book stories. The series by the creator of Regular Show focuses above all on humorous storytelling about the hardships of fitting into the adult world. A good example of this is the episode in which Emily comes to a house showing, because although she knows she cannot afford to buy one, it is the only moment when she feels a sense of life stability.

In reality, however, the life of the main characters is a veritable rollercoaster of successive challenges of the adult world, exaggerated to gargantuan proportions of absurdity. Candice, the young daughter of Josh and Emily, at times seems to be the most mature and most sober-minded character in the series. The parents, at all costs and despite the many irrational difficulties they face, try to guarantee their daughter everything that is best. This, however, is paid for with many sacrifices, which Quintel spices up with his narcotic surrealism.

In a humorous way, it exposes the challenges that the merciless modern world serves to thirty-somethings. Close Enough is a little slice of life, and a little totally absurd comedy, at which we burst into laughter again and again. Like other Quintel productions, Close Enough is a very specific type of animation, definitely aimed at the adult viewer due to references to such topics as drugs or sex.

Many, however, will painfully bounce off this series, discouraged by the general infantilization of the serial form and content, the omnipresent strangeness of the depicted world in which no logical rules prevail.

I had no concerns, because such humor hits my taste without fail. I also believe that besides being a great comedy to color an unassuming evening, one can take something more from Close Enough.

Beneath the layer of absurdity and nonsense hides an emotional picture exposing the hardships of adulthood and parenthood. It is easy to guess that the adventures of Josh and Emily are tinged with the experiences of the creators, which allows us to believe more in the characters, who, besides their quirks, also have problems, fears, baggage of experience, unfulfilled dreams, and simply hope for a happy life.

Quintel production, with its unbridled irrationality and hasty pace of action, will not appeal to everyone. The short episodes of the series have something of a fast-food character. It is not a production from the same shelf as BoJack Horseman, which allows one to fully drown emotionally in the on-screen story. Close Enough was never meant to be that. It is a series that wonderfully combines situational jokes with fluid animation. It has the character of an unassuming sitcom, which does not engage that much, but instead provides plenty of entertainment and satisfaction.

It also does not end in a spectacular way, thus leaving a slight sense of insufficiency, which in turn generates the desire for more.