If your a 20 something or just a old man or woman reflecting back on your 20 something days, then you can definitely relate to be being broke at one point during that period. Everybody wants to make it no matter where you live. Everybody has ideas and get rich quick schemes and HBO's new show How To Make it In America provides a fictional but accurate tale of two 20 something friends that are on a quest for the the almighty dollar.
The new HBO series is set on the streets of Manhattan but overall in the city of New York City, where the main character Ben played by Bryan Greenberg is sitting in his apartment starting piles of skateboards stacked up around his house. As he gets up to go smoke a cigarette in the kitchen his friend Cam played by Victor Rasuk wraps on the door to be let in. After explaining how is wild night of sex with a Lesbian tattoo artist who only makes exceptions for black guys and it is obvious Cam is Puerto Rican who claims laughingly he was black enough, and at this point you can tell who the comedic relief is depended on, the two start there day. But for Ben the day will turn into a long eventful one as the two met up with there other friend Gigi who they promised earlier they would help her with setting up a party to help their friend Tim an up and coming photographer sell his pictures to the New York elite and hipsters. While setting up the pictures the friend alerts Ben that his ex girlfriend is going to be there and reluctantly Ben promises her he will be there.. and that is only the begining.
Cam problems got a little bit more harder to solve when he finds out his crazy gangster cousin Rene played by funnyman Luis Guzman is home from Rikers Island and he is ready to be paid back the $3,000 that he lent him before he went in. Cam has to get his grind on ASAP. As the episode goes on, Ben is a sales associate at Barney's and while trying to dodge costumers by leaving his tag in his pocket crosses paths with an old High School friend Played by Eddie Kane Thomas aka Finch from American Pie. As he hands Ben his card and asks him to call him anytime, this would become very crucial into helping Ben and Cam with Rene later on in the episode. As we fast forward to the end of the episode Ben makes a crazy gamble as he asks for another loan from Rene to buy a spool of stolen denim so they can create there own brand of 70's retro jeans titled Crisp. this is where the grind begins.
Now this show definitely appealed to me not because it is hitting my demo graph, but I can personally relate to the story. the Ex Girlfriend problem, the crazy friend that can talk his way out (or in to) anything, the cool hip friends that have the connections and rich fathers, basically 90% of the story. and what sealed it for me was the title theme song in the beginning by Aloe Blacc titled I need A Dollar. The way they captured the city of New York is dead on almost as close as Law & Order usually does. It is an entertaining story line that is well acted by supporting cast including Rapper Kid Cudi who plays Domingo a hip young kid trying to make it just as bad as Ben and Cam. I did have doubts about this show, was it going to be about sex or was it going to be so corny it would make you want to cancel your HBO subscription until Entourage comes back on, but even though it did have some corny parts, overall the script is so well written and it is so well acted it makes you overlook those points and keeps you glued to the set for about 25 minutes to see if there is going to more problems than money made by the two. HBO has another hit on its hands and as I watched the show twice I try to look for parts they can work better on... but honestly, I couldn't find one thing wrong except maybe suggesting to Kid Cudi to hit the gym a little harder. The great thing about this story is that it is holding true to the title. everyone in this show has a venture from Ben and Cam's denim line, to Rene even trying his hand in the Energy Drink game purchasing distributing rights in the Tri-State area to sell Rasta Monsta Energy Drinks where he explains "One sip of this, and you will be fucking all night". I urge everyone who can to check out this show and if you don't live in New York or ever want to go the cinematography hit the New York City life through the young eyes right on the head. The only other complaint I have is they should stretch this show out to an hour. But they did the right thing they got me wanting more. And you always leave the paying costomer wanting more.
You can catch the show Sundays on HBO at 8 EST, or if you have Comcast/Cable you can see the three episodes on demand so you can get caught up. How To Make it in America is definitely one of the best shows so far in 2010.
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