Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
Nathan Flomm, in order to avoid the humiliation of having missed out on a hugely successful business, assumes a new identity on Martha's Vineyard. He plots revenge when his former business partner moves to the same town.
Clear History is an HBO TV movie with a likable Larry David vehicle premise—his classic Curb neurosis transplanted into a feature-length revenge comedy on Martha's Vineyard. The plot is amusing but thin, essentially a stretched Curb episode without the same improvisational tightness. The ensemble cast (Jon Hamm, Bill Hader, Eva Mendes) elevates the acting above average for a TV movie, with David doing his usual cringe-comedy schtick competently. Cinematography is functional TV-movie level with little visual ambition. Novelty is limited—it's very much a Larry David comedy in a familiar mode, offering nothing structurally or tonally new. The ending wraps up predictably without much payoff, feeling anticlimactic for the buildup.