The Slap is What You Expect it to Be.

Pretty awful. A friend of mine and I were once talking about the movie Crash, starring Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, and a whole bunch of other people. It's a fairly well known movie but the main focus of the film is the interconnected stories and racism. My friend had a huge problem with how racist all of a sudden everyone became in nearly every situation that was slightly tense. The Slap is like that, except way worse and much more in your face.

The Slap is based off the Australian mini-series of the same name, with the same people, and is nearly shot for shot identical. The show has an all-star cast which is a damn shame because they should be doing something else. The show includes, Peter Sarsgaard, Thandie Newtown, Zachary God-damn Quinto, what is he doing in this, Uma Thurman, WHAT, Brian Cox, WHAAAT, and a whole bunch of other members that make up this hate-filled family. And that's where my problem begins with this show, is that everyone within this family appears to hate each other.

Now I get it, I truly do, some families just don't get along, but if you're afraid that Uncle Bobby is going to strangle Uncle Randle you don't invite them both to the same event. If that fear doesn't exist that family members should be able to act like every other family out there, you be nice to each other, you make small talk, and then on the way home you talk about what so and so said and how awful so and so looks and can you believe how drunk so and so got. You put up a facade.

This family cannot do that. They do the opposite. They bicker they pull punches and they nearly come to striking each other several times. So why oh why are they all together celebrating somebody's birthday, which involves alcohol, by the way? Because that's the best the writer's could do. Realistic? Not so much.

There are hints in the beginning of the premiere that a number of people are aware that certain members do not get along and yet they all show up. Makes. No. Sense.

Also, there's narration. Yep, in case you get lost or can't tell by Petter Sarsgaard's forlorn look that he's depressed an usual and jarring narrator will inform you as to what Hector is thinking. It's strange.

But the biggest problem I have with this is how everyone instantly becomes racist/classist when the slap happens. Someone is called a hippy, someone is called pig, someone else is called 1% I believe. It's a little too scripted and again makes me wonder what this family is doing if all these classist undertones are just bubbling beneath the surface. If they don't like each other and think that so and so is a pig, they can just not hang out. Family is family but Jesus not that much.

I also really fail to see where this series is going. It's based around a man hitting a child, I'm not sure what back story I am going to hear/need to hear/want to hear that is going to either make me understand that scenario better or understand the family better or understand what this family is even doing together.

So if you want to watch an incredibly scripted show focused on a man slapping a child across the face, then you're a strange individual and The Slap is for you.