David Spade has managed to make a career out of playing the exact same obnoxious character. There are absolutely still times that I find the character funny, watching CBS’s new comedy Rules of Engagement is not one of them. Rules of Engagement is not wholly without laughs, but they are certainly few and far between.
The show centers on two couples and one single man. The first couple, Adam (Oliver Hudson) and Jennifer (Bianca Kajlich), has only known each other for seven months, and just got engaged. The second couple, Jeff (Patrick Warburton) and Audrey (Megyn Price), has been married 12 years, and then there’s David Spade as Russell.
Poor Adam, who, let’s face it, jumped into the whole engagement thing rather prematurely, ends up getting advice from two sides: the man that’s been married forever and the man that refuses to ever head down that path. In order to try and be funny, both these guys seem to agree that Adam is making a mistake. While they may not be wrong about it if they’re reacting simply due to the speed at which the relationship has progressed, both Jeff and Russell seem to actually be arguing against marriage as a whole.
The premise for Rules of Engagement would be good, if it wasn’t something that has been tried and tired-out numerous times before. A television series doesn’t have to be wholly new and different to be enjoyable (let’s face it, that’s nearly impossible), but in this case it may have helped. The vast majority of the jokes in the show are not terribly funny, and much like the premise, feel as though they’ve been around the block a few too many times.
Taken from the other point of view, it could be argued that the show is both comforting and familiar. It will break no boundaries in either the television nor the comedy world, but just about anyone in America will be able to turn on the show, even if they’ve missed a ton of episodes, and understand exactly what is happening and who these people are.
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