In 1995 Edward Burns walked out of the Sundance film festival with the Grand Jury prize for his first film and offers up the wazoo for acting & directing. 5 years later he couldn’t get a film made to save his life. He’s still at it though, writing, acting, and directing his own stories sometimes for less money than a Kardashian nail job. In 2018 he rolled cameras on his latest no-budget pet project Summertime which he never managed to get a release for, until Epix came along. The cabler made him a logical offer: if no one wants it in theaters, make it for TV. Back to drawing board he went, and with the same cast and general storyline comes Bridge & Tunnel.
Set in the summer of 1980, the story follow 6 young adults, 3 guys & 3 gals, life-long friends from the same Long Island neighborhood, as they enjoy one last summer break together before adulthood takes their youth and dreams away for good. 2 have been on/off dating since High School, 2 have been enjoying casual benefits for just as long, and 2 wait for the right moment to get what they want.
If that sounds vague, then I thoroughly encourage you to check it out and summarize it all better then I could, because the longs and shorts of it is that pretty much is all that happens throughout the entire 6-episode run. Expecting more, however, involves knowing nothing of the show’s creator and his writing style. Burns, himself a warm presence in his own show as the main patriarch passing the baton to the next generation, excels in suburban family dramedy where much more is said than done. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, unless you were looking for the next Breaking Bad. Burns knows his story is small and intimate, and never tries to imply that his work endeavors to dissect the human condition.
If that frustrates you, then many more elements will make things worse along the way. Starting with lead lady Caitlin Stasey who does her commendable best to trade her thick Australian accent for a NY State “bridge and tunnel” twang, or her beau Sam Vartholomeos who literally sounds and acts Italian -hand gestures and all- as he portrays an Irish American. Or the fact that it makes the year 1980 a lot more glamorous -and clean- than it was (I was young, but I was there, and I remember that year quite well). The thing that made those things inconsequential to me is that the whole show felt like looking at an artsy, ideal-looking photograph of the era, which gels perfectly with the storyline where main-man Sam -Vartholomeos- discovers his inner Annie Lebowitz by taking snapshots of his last summer among his childhood entourage.
The dialog feels repetitive from episode to episode and what little happens does so quite slowly, but a tight runtime just under 30mins per episode keeps it from becoming boring and makes the episodic, non-binge nature almost as perfect for it was back in the day when we had to wait to see what happens next to our favorite TV characters. Mistake me not: this is by no means an Emmy contender nor even Burns’ best work, but I found myself wanting to hang just one more night with these characters, share one more laugh, keep the flame alive a bit more. That isn’t necessarily great television, but it is the best.
The Canuck Critick 