Kevin James' 'The Crew' Rehashes Lazy, Sexist Sitcom Clichés: TV Review
Sadie Gennis, provided by
FacebookTwitterEmail
You don’t have to watch a minute of Kevin James’ new Netflix series, “The Crew,” to know exactly what the show is like. From showrunner Jeff Lowell (“The Ranch”), the workplace comedy stars James as Kevin, the bumbling crew chief of a middling Nascar racing team, whose job becomes a lot more complicated after the team’s owner retires and puts his millennial daughter Catherine (Jillian Mueller) in charge.
Like most of James’ characters, Kevin is a self-deprecating man-child who loves old-school values, cheap beer, and protecting the status quo, which makes having to listen to his progressive new boss a challenge. A Stanford grad who found success in Silicon Valley, Catherine has little in common with her new employees, but brings to the table several strategic, forward-thinking ideas for how the team could break out of their rut and become real contenders in racing. However, none of the crew have any interest in listening to Catherine, and the majority of the season is spent with Kevin leading the charge to undermine Catherine at every turn, with Kevin preferring to enable mediocrity rather than strive for the highest levels of success (a sentiment that could also speak to James’ seeming approach to his career).