How To Make It In America - Review

 Yeah yeah I'm late catching on to the show I know I know.  I've heard people talk about the show and never really know what it was about, until two weeks ago.  It's only 16 episodes each at 26-ish minutes so that's not too much of a time investment.  This show centers around Ben Epstein and Cam Calderon 2 friends in their late 20's seemingly directionless.  Ben works at Barney's and Cam works odd jobs here and there.  They tried to sell skate decks designed by a local skater Will Fredo, but since Will went crazy nobody wants to buy those decks.  Cam stumbles across a guy selling Marc Jacobs leather coats from a truck by the docks.  Ben notices that he also has a roll of Raw Japanese Denim as well.  Ben and Cam borrow money from Cam's newly freed convict cousin Renee to buy the denim to start a jean line called CRISP.  Horrible name!  Super terrible.  After they swindle more money from Ben's high school friend (Caplan) to pay a tailor to make a sample for them they realize that the sample is wrong wrong wrong!  Dude looked like Urkel! 

At the same time they stumble into getting a meeting with a designer from Japan.  He hates the pants but loves the shirt Ben is wearing.  Its a shirt he designed in high school. He says he wants 300 shirts like like 2 -3 days.  They find these vintage shirts from a tip a girl in a vintage shop gave them.  They get the shirts and have them silk screened and miraculously make the deadline. 

With that money they got from those shirts, they decide to go to Japan and get more shirts?  Which was odd b/c they had plenty of stock at the warehouse they found.  They decide to just do shirts and hoodies.  They now have a rival group called the Neanderthals and to be honest their clothes looked wayyyy better.  Through more luck and stumblings they end up at a house party of this supplier named Nancy.  they crashed the party and got thrown out.  Ben left the clothing samples and said he would get it the next day, which was Bullshit b/c they guarded the samples almost with their lives.  So he returned the next day to Nancy saying that her son loves the hoodie.  She convinces Ben to design a class shirt for her son's middle school.  The shirt is a success and they start to do business together. 

Nancy hooks Ben and Cam up with 2 girls who supplies stores with clothes and offer them a 5500 piece order for Gadzooks stores.  It is no way they can fill the order in the time allotted so it is suggested that they use a manufacturer who so happens to be Nancy's husband Yosi.  Yosi loves the brand and gives them each $10,000 upfront.  Cam starts to have his doubts about Yosi after it's discovered that he wants to change the name to Crisp by Yosi and change the design.  Ben likes the idea and loves the money involved.  After finding out that Nancy suggested Yosi manufacture the brand Ben feels double crossed and walks away from the deal....which to is BULLSHIT b/c Cam and Ben both signed the contracts from Yosi.  Ben and Cam reconcile and Ben reveals that they are going to start to make jeans. 

Now that's just the story of the brand.  There are other sub plots going on with Ben's ex, Renee and his Business Rasta Monsta and Ben and Cam's friend Domingo played by Kid Cudi.  This show isn't the best written but as I have come to learn, great shows are about characters just so much story.  Like why would Don Draper marry his secretary who is way younger out of the blue and barely knows?!  Very uncharacteristic very un-Don Draper like but still a great show. 

This show is complex but very very simple.  Every character is rich and diverse and has a dream.  The only problem with this show is its unbelievability.  They trip on their dicks every episode and stumble into a pot of gold.  That's not real life.  The biggest pitfalls they have had is who are they going to borrow money from this week.  5,000 here 3,000 there, plus the level of coincidence is very high.  Still though this is a cool show with great music and the acting in it is very good.  It was cancelled after 2 seasons on HBO but executive producer Mark Wahlberg says he is going to try to get it on another channel.  REVOLT? Take That Take That!

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