Review: Indolent Allen “Allen’s First Party”

Overview:

Allen is the life of the party! Or, so he thinks as he takes on disc jockey duties at his first college party. Blaring the hot tracks of Hans Zimmer doesn’t seem to be up everyone’s alley, but what would they know? Allen’s audience drives him to the point of needing a smoke break when, unfortunately, everything goes wrong.

Our Take:

There are lots of reasons to be excited about Indolent Allen, even if it is not about the series itself. The latest series of shorts to be premiering on the Adult Swim Smalls collection may just be the beginning of an illustrious animation career. Coming from the mind of young Cliff Benfield, the promising animator hopes that Indolent Allen is his jumping-off point to a much larger animation series with Adult Swim.

Why not? Benfield would not be the first big-time animator to build his career from the grassroots source of the internet. One Justin Roiland of Rick and Morty fame built his own name in the trenches of YouTube. There is a strong chance that Indolent Allen grows to something bigger than himself. Even if this set of shorts is a learning experience before Benfield’s next go-round.

Honestly, there is potential here. Even the first episode released last week managed to pull through on the humour. The premiere featured the titular character sparring dialogue with his professor as the young student attempted to weasel his way out of doing homework over the break. And after scoring an invite to his first college party at the conclusion of that episode, this new edition followed up on the story.

Diving deeper into the world of Indolent Allen and exploring past the classroom, this fresh piece puts Allen in the DJ booth. As promised, Allen brings his speaker to the party but also brings with him his entire setup, including a fog machine. Unfortunately for everybody else at the party, they are stuck listening to Allen’s favourite tracks from superhero film soundtracks. And, if they hope to make a request, it will cost them at least a 20-dollar Venmo.

The episode also explores some more characters, including an introverted Bella attempting to get out of her shell. However, Allen may not be the best person to socialize with at a college party with his blatant honesty and downright rude apathy. Thankfully, for the audience tuning into Indolent Allen, the interactions are hilarious in their relatability.

The episode concludes on a cliff-hanger; based on how this episode continued the plot, we can assume it will pay off next week. It is worth getting on board with this series now, and not only for the entertaining dialogue. The pillars are being put in place for a show that can deliver hours of entertainment, laughs, and maybe a few cringe moments.