Z/Web

Author: Lee Goldberg

I had no idea there were Monk books. I’m a giant fan of the TV show and quickly bought all three books. This was the first one I read and it’s terrific. The “Blue Flu” is the San Franciso police calling in sick (since they can’t legally strike) and Monk ends up being temporarily instated as Captain, during which he solves a number of baffling crimes with a team of other misfits detectives who’d been fired for being nutty (like him). The book captures the hilarious spirit of Monk just like the show, but there’s a lot more depth here, and I liked that he solves multiple mysteries instead of just one. Excellent!

I expected this to be much better considering the cast, but well, it stunk. There are two key problems. The first is that the film is about a couple breaking up which is unpleasant. We have to sit through weeks of their fighting, backstabbing, and mean-spirited, spiteful tricks on each other, which is just depressing. It’s not funny at all. It’s just sad. Of course all this would have been endurable because, of course, they get together in the end. But they don’t. That’s right. They stay broken-up. What was the point of that? I can see how some people might try to say that’s realistic or dramatic or profound or whatever, but I don’t really care. It’s just depressing. It ruined anything good about the rest of the film and there wasn’t much there to begin with. The film was marketed as a romantic comedy but there was nothing funny or romantic about it. It’s just sad and spiteful and depressing. It reminded me of the horrible The Perfect Storm.