Review with Myles Barlow is an Australian television series that falls most definitely under the category of Black Comedy. The show is written by Phil Lloyd (aka Myles Barlow), and is also co-written and directed by Trent O'Donnell. Each episode goes for 30 minutes, with the first two series having six episodes.
Myles Barlow is a critic, who will review anything and everything. The show begins with Myles reading out the "Letter of the Week", then addressing what he believes to be the letter's main theme. It is a rare thing that Myles will actually give any helpful advice to the author of the letter. One of Myles's running gags seems to be overly long metaphors, which eventually becomed so derailed that even he has forgotten what he was talking about.
An American adaptation of this series, titled simply Review, began airing on Comedy Central in 2014.
This series contains examples of:
- Absolute Xenophobe: Myles has to become one when reviewing Racism.Myles (to an Indonesian Man): "We grew here, you flew here."
- Amicable Exes: Heavily downplayed with Myles and his wife Catherine, but still present. Myles's ex-wife allows him to visit his children, and is one of the people who takes part in his intervention when he tries reviewing Addiction.
- Apocalypse Cult: Myles starts one when he reviews Starting A Cult. He ends up having sex with all the attractive female members of the cult, and it ends in a shootout with the police.
- Comically Missingthe Point: When Myles reviews divorcing his wife, him telling her she wants a divorce obviously leads to a fight. One of the things she is upset about is that Myles is eating an apple during the confrontation.
- Descent into Addiction: Invoked. Myles reviews Addition.
- Disproportionate Retribution: In one episode, Myles reviews committing murder. The victim he chose was Toby, the propriter of a newsstand who short-changed Myles one day. Afterwards, Myles found the missing change in his back pocket.
- Divorce Is Temporary: Subverted. When reviewing bachelor parties/buck parties, the divorced Mr. Barlow pointed out that he needed to first be engaged to be married. Cue Myles standing outside his ex wife's front door with flowers and a wedding ring.Catherine: "Myles?"Myles: "What do you say Catherine, should we give it another chance?"Catherine: *closes door in Myles's face*
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Do Not Do This Cool Thing:Myles: "Being a Rockstar: an irresponsible, hedonistic life of indulgence." *Four Stars* - Dramatically Missing the Point: Someone sends a letter to Myles asking whether he should open a club, and Myles decides to review starting a CULT.
- Driven to Suicide: Graham, the man Myles agrees to counsel when reviewing stress. Since the segment ends with Myles having a heart attack whilst trying to get some candles for Graham's cake, it's left open as to whether Graham did go through with the suicide.He later appears in the Christmas special, and is reunited with his father , and reveals he was molested by his father as a child
- Even Evil Has Standards: How Myles's drug dealers react when he is reviewing addiction.Myles: "Well, I don't want my kids to see me getting high." *chuckles*Drug Dealer: "That's not funny mate."
- Safe to say that this clearly doesn't apply to Myles himself, who will literally do anything in the name of reviewing it.
- False Friend: Myles, when reviewing betrayal. Myles rescued and found a home for an Iranian Refugee named Terek, spending the next few months helping him set up his home ... then called Customs and Immegration on Terek after lying about bringing his family over. Terek was executed upon his return.
- Glory Hound: When Myles reviews heroism, he starts by purposly getting lost in the Bush for a few days before being rescued at the great cost of the taxpayer. Once his fifteen seconds of fame dry up, Myles resorts to burning down a building so as to save those inside (three people inside still died).
- He Knows Too Much: In addition to murdering poor Toby (see Disproportionate Retribution above), Myles also murders two other people (a woman and later an old man) who witnessed him in the act.
- Jerkass Hasa Point: When Myles is reviewing divorce, his (now ex) wife demanded and won full custody of their children. This seems like she's preventing Myles from seeing his children out of spite ... until her divorce lawyer produces evidence that Myles has (among other things) hunted whales and held membership in Taliban. The fact that Myles murdered six people over the course of the series (three of them in that very episode), and that in later episodes he reviewed things like voyeurism and addiction, support his ex wife's claim that he's a bad influence.
- Married to the Job: A rather extreme and ruthless example as Myles puts his role as a reviewer above all else and is willing to do anything in order to review a given topic. Bonus in that he deliberately destroyed his own marriage so he could review divorce.
- May–December Romance: When Myles reviews Inter-Generational Romance, he is on both sides of this. First he is the December when he dates a teenage girl, then he is the May when he dates her 80 year old grandmother.
- Metaphorgotten: Myles seems to have perfected this trope.
- Molotov Cocktail: In the episode where Myles roadtests acceptance by joining a biker gang, he uses a Molotov cocktail to burn down the headquarters of a rival gang.
- Recovered Addict: Myles is trying to be one after he reviewed Addiction.
- Villain Protagonist: Myles Barlow. Some of the things he reviewed include murder (he killed three people), starting a cult (which ended in a gunfight), risk (specifically drug running), heroism (he burned down a house, killing three more people), and stealing (specifically, stealing everything he can get his hands on).
- With Friends Like These...: Russel Jensen, whom Myles befriends while reviewing "Dickheads".
- Myles himself is one in general, but especially so when he reviews "Freeloading".
