'Legendary author Eric Jonrosh (Will Ferrell), the undisputed master of dramatic fiction, introduces audiences to the brilliant adaptation of his best-selling novel, a sweeping chronicle of the provocative and captivating exploits of the Morehouse family. Patriarch Jonas Morehouse (Tim Robbins) shepherds his daughter Cynthia (Kristen Wiig) and adopted son Devon (Tobey Maguire) from meagre beginnings in the oil fields of Texas to powerful boardrooms in New York City.'
The Spoils of Babylon is a series that you really have to see to understand! The storyline can be quite complex at times, however the whole concept of the show is quite entertaining and encapsulating.
The entire miniseries is presented as if it had been a real miniseries, with a fictional backstory of how it took three years to film and was originally 22 hours long, and each episode is framed with its author/director Eric Jonrosh (played by Will Ferrell) sitting in a restaurant discussing it. Patriarch Jonas Morehouse (played by Tim Robbins) shepherds his daughter Cynthia (played by Kristen Wiig) and adopted son Devon (played by Tobey Maguire) from meagre beginnings in the oil fields of Texas to powerful boardrooms in New York City. Cynthia and Devon, entwined in undeniable love, stumble through war-torn battlefields, blazing mansions, filthy drug dens and velvet-sheeted bedrooms on their quest for power and influence.
Despite Jonas's best efforts to intervene, Cynthia and Devon's merciless love sets into motion a wave of destruction that crashes down on Devon's graceful wife Lady Anne (played by a mannequin!), his daughter Marianne (played by Jelly Howie), his colleague and lover Dixie (played by Jessica Alba), Cynthia's hen-pecked husband Chet (played by Michael Sheen), her evil son Winston (played by Haley Joel Osment), the scheming Generals and far beyond.
After watching the first episode, I wasn’t motivated to watch the remaining five. It gave a great introduction to the story in the love between Cynthia and Devon (it would be quite awkward tuning in half way through thinking they were biological brother and sister!) but I didn’t find many if any laugh out loud moments. The same goes for the whole series – it was enjoyable to watch but I would view it more as a drama-comedy than a comedy-drama (if that makes sense!). I think the length of each episode (22 minutes per episode) and the length of the entire series is enough.
The star-studded line-up of this series is phenomenal – Will Ferrell, Kirsten Wiig, Jessica Alba, Haley Joel Osment and Tobey Maguire are some of the biggest names in the world of film and television who have all come together to create this mini-series, and it seems they are having a ball of fun doing it!
If you enjoy a mixture drama, comedy and awkward humour (somewhat similar to the works of Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim) then you will enjoy this series. It’s definitely worth a look at!
★★★☆☆
The Spoils of Babylon can be purchased on DVD NOW!