Charlie Harper is a devil-may-care jingle songwriter that glides through life with ease. All he seems to need is his woman, his booze, and his freedom from daily stress to get by in his Malibu beach house. With all his abundance and generosity, divorced brother, Alan (Jon Cryer) moved in (temporarily) after being divorced seven years ago, but seems to be a permanent fixture much to Charlie's chagrin. Alan not only came with baggage, but brought his son, Jake, who lends a bit of the youthful interest as he struggles from adolescence to young adult with unwise tutoring by Uncle Charlie, while conscientious dad, Alan, painstakingly tries to keep him on the moral compass.
Two and a Half Men: The Complete Seventh Season opens with ex-love interest, Mia (Emmanuelle Vaugier), possibly threatening the engaged couple's stability. Charlie's engagement to Chelsea (Jennifer Taylor) travels into wedding arrangements, but not without troubles in paradise. When family and personal complications seem to invade their romance, Chelsea looks toward greener pastures. Charlie, distraught and dismayed by the misgivings of the relationship, seems to become "pussified" beyond character recognition. This turn towards the responsible and committed Charlie may have been the improvement that all have waited for, but will this good-natured guy last or will the temptations of life pull him back into his risque' comfort zone?
Alan moves forward with internet dating, a renewed romantic interest with ex-girlfriend, Melissa (Kelly Stables), and, as usual, some new products which result in embarrassing date disasters. Alan tries to relieve Chelsea's back pain by suggesting that she get a breast reduction, which leads to Alan's eviction by Charlie and temporary stay with Mother Evelyn (Holland Taylor). In order to buffer Alan's finances, she offers him a real estate position. Alan (always the opportunist) takes advantage of one of the "for sale" mansions for a night of love, and manages to lose not only his girlfriend, but his job as well. Alan's ex-wife, Judith (Marin Hinkle), continues to stir the mix with her frigid, condescending attitude toward Alan and present husband, Herb Melnick (Ryan Stiles), when the two guys try to establish a friendship. Housekeeper Berta (Conchata Ferrell) takes time from her busy schedule to share a joint with Charlie. And, an interesting turn-of-events occurs for Chelsea's parents when they visit the couple in Malibu. There are mini-spots by musical greats Eddie Van Halen and ZZ Top, with appearances by many stars including Stacey Keach, John Amos, Carl Reiner, Annie Potts, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Graham Patrick Martin, Jane Lynch (Dr. Linda Freeman), and yes, the girl we love so much, Melanie Lynskey (Rose).
In Two and a Half Men: The Complete Seventh Season the writing is uproariously funny, but I'm not quite certain that I want to find Charlie Harper turning into a solid citizen. His egotistic and crass behavior makes us laugh at ourselves; and, our lives don't seem quite so bad as when we watch righteous Alan always fail regardless of how much effort he puts out, while Charlie is totally unaffected by life as long as he has his alcohol and lady.
The features include "A Charlie Harper Ex Reunion" where all his old girlfriends express their blunt opinions on the man they once dated. There also appears a Gag Reel of funny cast bloopers.
Of course, I enjoyed the show as always, but with a new perspective of the teenage element. I think the booze and drug influence should not be taken so nonchalantly. I guess because of the teen infusion, there seemed to be a little more crass potty language, which in my opinion, tarnished the adult writing style of the show. I personally enjoyed the cadence of the show with its writing style reminiscent of a Neil Simon play. But there's a little bit too much vulgarity which takes it from comedy to leaning a bit on the smutty side. I think the greatest thing about the show is that with all of Charlie's bad behavior, it does carry off that Hollywood Malibu lifestyle that we all would secretly like to entertain, if only in our day-dreams.
