Mike & Molly - The Complete Fourth Season - DVD

Film: Actually, Molly (Melissa McCarthy) has no real reason to complain. Good, there's constant turmoil in her house after not only her sister Victoria (Katy Mixon) and her mother Joyce (Swoosie Kurtz), but her mother's husband Louis (Vince Moranto) have taken up residence there. Especially between Joyce and Molly's husband Mike (Billy Gardell) there is always tension. And when the latter's mother Peggy (Rondi Reed) gets involved, the result is a truly explosive mix. Still, the elementary school teacher has been really happy so far. But now she has had enough. She decides to quit her job and wants to finally fulfill her big dream of becoming a successful writer. Mike is not at all taken with this at first. Because now he alone is responsible for bringing home the money. And that could come to an end sooner than they think when he gets shot in the line of duty. Because now Mike is also thinking about hanging up his job...

Mike & Molly truly doesn't reinvent the sitcom genre. Much of what the show has to offer has been seen before in countless other comedy series. The distribution of roles, the not exactly original stories and also many of the puns are quite classic and conventional sitcom material. The fact that the series nevertheless stands out from the crowd and is now entering its fifth successful year is primarily thanks to the two main actors. Both comedian Billy Gardell and Melissa McCarthy are in their roles real sympathizers, who with a good dose of self-irony even the yet very simple and somewhat overinflated gags about their corpulence always make amusing.

In the fourth season, the creators have tried to freshen up the concept of the series a bit by having Molly quit her job in the very first episode and say goodbye to her students and thus also to her old life in the best slapstick manner. Her attempts to make it big as a writer then also provide quite humorous potential, for example when she accuses her neighbor of murdering his wife in a window to the yard homage and puts her foot in her mouth during her investigation.

Unfortunately, the plotline around Molly's professional self-realization is a bit too much overused, so that after a few episodes already here fatigue symptoms become noticeable. The makers try to counter this with more slapstick interludes, which unfortunately doesn't always work. And so even the good-humored ensemble can not prevent that this fourth season has become the weakest of the series so far. However, there are still enough successful gags to keep fans happy. When Victoria picks her new boyfriend from Mike's inner circle of acquaintances, for example, or Susan Sarandon delivers two memorable guest appearances as Molly's big idol J.C. Small, when Mike takes a road trip with Carl and Samuel to visit Carl's mother, or when Molly decides to see a therapist, good humor is guaranteed.

So if you already liked the first three seasons and don't mind that there are also some slightly less amusing and too overdone episodes, this DVD box set can be warmly recommended to you. And although the dubbing is absolutely successful in many moments, it is definitely worth listening to the original English version. Because just the quarrels in the fully occupied house of Mike and Molly are clearly more fun in the original version! Worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The technical implementation of the fourth season is on a good level for a current comedy series. The image is very clean, the colors vibrant and the overall sharpness satisfactory. Some weaknesses become apparent in the detail presentation, but these are kept within negligible limits. On the German Dolby Digital 2.0 mix, it's noticeable that dialogue sounds a bit muffled in places compared to the original English version. Overall, however, the voices are mixed well understandable, which is probably the most important aspect for a sitcom. In the end, it's all good enough for a: Good!

Extras: As a little extra, there are a few spoiled scenes (approx. 3:39 min.) on the third disc. Not much, but better than nothing!

Conclusion: The signs are set for change in the fourth season of Mike & Molly. The creators try to blow a little fresh air into the series with Molly's resignation and her trip to self-discovery. This works very well in places, but at other moments robs the sitcom of some of the charm it has had up to this point. Nevertheless, the entertainment value is overall still at a pleasantly high level, so that fans can safely access this season. Recommendable

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp