Blockbuster (Netflix series, 2022)
It is highly ironic that the streaming giant that helped put video stores out of business, is now releasing a comedy that takes place in the last Blockbuster videostore on the planet. It is also a pretty enjoyable show, that hits the mark more often than not.
At its peak there were 9000 Blockbuster stores all over the United States. Now there is just the one in Benz, Oregon, which already was the subject of the documentary The Last Blockbuster.
This new comedy series was not filmed there, it takes place in Michigan, but it obviously served as the inspiration for the store in the show.
Created by Vanessa Ramos (Brooklyn Nine Nine, Superstore} and written by David Caspe and Jackie Clarke, Blockbuster explores what (and who) it takes and for a small business to succeed in the current economic climate.
According to the synopsis, Timmy Yoon (Randall Park) is an analog dreamer living in a 5G world. And after learning he is operating the last Blockbuster Video in America, Timmy and his staff employees fight to stay in the game.
The other most important characters is Melissa Fumero as Eliza Walker, who works at the store to afford het apartment after her husband left her for a younger woman. She also happens to be Timmy's long-time crush.
Comic relief is provided by Tyler Alvarez, who plays Carlos Herrera, a young employee at the store who dreams of becoming a famous director. He also delivers one of the funniest lines in the first episode. When the last Blockbuster store is threatened with closure his response is: ‘How can I become the next Tarantino if I don’t work at a video store?’
Carlos is friends with Hanna Hadman (Madeleine Arthur), who is a young employee at the store, while Connie Serrano (Olga Merediz) plays an older employee of Blockbuster.
Two other notable characters are Percy Scott (J.B. Smoove), who not only is Timmy's best-friend but also the landlord of the strip-mall the store is located in. Percy’s daughter Kayla (Kamaia Fairburn) also works at the store.
The only way for the Blockbuster team to succeed is to remind their community that they provide something big corporations can't: human connection.
A store like this is a great setting for a comedy. It invites a lot of camaraderie between the characters, there is lot of room for situational humor, and when it hits the right emotional notes it can be heartwarming as well.
A great example of this is the movie High Fidelity, about the employees of a record store. And also there is the movie Clerks, about a day in the life of two convenience clerks.
I’m not sure Blockbuster will achieve the same classic status, but based on the first couple of episodes I can tell you that it is worth a healthy amount of laughs.
If you yearn for the days you could go the local videostore to rent a couple of movies, you can revel in the nostalgia it evokes, even while the brave Blockbuster employees try to keep their store in business.