A mountain range, a multi-million-dollar fortune and a seemingly insurmountable generational gap divide the two female comedians at the heart of HBO Max’s half-hour dramedy Hacks.
Smart has enjoyed a welcome career revival in the past few years, becoming a go-to supporting player in buzzy dramas like Fargo, Watchmen, Legion and Mare of Easttown, but her starring role here allows her to finally showcase her wild versatility.
Hacks finds Deborah suddenly on the outs with her casino-developer boss of the Las Vegas Strip, where the older comedian somewhat inexplicably puts up her new employee.
She’s a pill to be around — not just for the people around her, but for the audience too — making her most enjoyable scenes the ones where she discovers more about Deborah, such as why she won’t talk to her sister anymore, or where the mutual suspicions stop in her relationship with her feckless adult daughter .
But Ava’s primarily there as a sad-sack punching bag or the audience surrogate in uncovering the hidden depths of a comedy pioneer who might be tarnishing her legacy by selling questionable wares on QVC and retreating to a secluded mansion that Ava sneeringly compares to the Cheesecake Factory.
Carl Clemons-Hopkins embodies the daily frustrations and practiced blind eye required of Deborah’s right-hand man Marcus, but it’s the sly pragmatism and unself-conscious exuberance that Poppy Liu exudes in her brief scenes as Deborah’s personal blackjack dealer Kiki that provides Hacks with its few bursts of real joy.
Not that there isn’t a hint of glee when Deborah abandons Ava by the side of the road by boarding a helicopter she calls for when her Rolls Royce breaks down.