In the past, I’ve expounded upon a phenomenon known as “Mom Cinema.” Mom Cinema is defined (by me) as movies starring esteemed older actresses whose characters are stuck in a rut and looking for a new lease on life. They usually find it in some stunning, lush locale far from home.
On the opposite side of the Mom Cinema coin is “Dad Television,” which has just added an excellent new entry into the canon with Eugene Levy’s new travel show, The Reluctant Traveler, streaming on Apple TV+ Friday.
Don’t ask me why moms get movies and dads get TV; it’s just the natural order of things. And I should know: My biology degree from a dodgy online university’s three-day course has been stuck somewhere in the mail system for five years. Dad Television is similar to Mom Cinema in that they exhibit a mutual love of watching celebrities travel. Dads just happen to enjoy this more in a docuseries format, seeing Stanley Tucci eat his way around Italy or rewatching an Anthony Bourdain show for the hundredth time—they never get tired of Bourdain!
Dads relish the lighthearted, sardonic humor found in travel shows. But they sometimes find, and enjoy, that same cleverness in fictional television as well. A primary example of this crossover also happens to be the perfect instance of when the interests of dads and moms overlap: a little show called Schitt’s Creek.
Now, I’ve still never seen a frame of the little Canadian comedy-that-could, but I hear it’s lovely. I’m sure I’ll get to it before I die. But it’s beloved by moms and dads alike because of its central cast of character actors. Chief among those are Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy, who teamed up to play a set of parents that made moms and dads everywhere feel better about their own choices. Levy, in particular, has become known among dad circles for his cynical, deadpan witticisms, aka “dad jokes.” And finally, some genius at Apple TV+ was wise enough to combine the best of both worlds of Dad Television, shipping 75-year-old Levy off to wisecrack around the world.
The result is a refreshingly simple series that goes down easy. If you’re looking for something endlessly daring, you’re better off in the calloused palms of Zac Efron of Bear Grylls. Instead, The Reluctant Traveler is designed to capitalize on its host’s posh personality, sending Levy off into splendid spots across the globe to venture into new cultures, but never too far from the comforts of five-star luxury. That makes The Reluctant Traveler sort of the anti-adventurer’s adventure. A chic mix of high and low sails through the eight-episode season, every voyage is buoyed by Levy’s consistently hilarious combination of jokes and anxieties.
Each episode begins with Levy repeating a phrase allegedly coined by Saint Augustine, which has since been co-opted by posters hanging in teachers’ lounges everywhere: “The world is a book, and those who don’t travel read only one page.” Levy’s a homebody by nature. He’s read some of the book, and he didn’t love it! But as he’s gotten older, he’s become more curious. This burgeoning worldly intrigue especially comes at the behest of his son, Dan Levy, whom he refers to as a “cosmopolitan,” which is a fun, dad way of saying “gay.” So what better time to hop on a flight—or perhaps a helicopter, water taxi, or sports car—than this very moment?
Levy starts by being shepherded around each location by a local, in some of their favorite modes of transportation. He glides by bluffs in Utah (while working through his fear of heights); he speeds past skyscrapers in Japan (contending with his distaste for going fast and furious); he soars across islands in the Maldives (telling himself that the seaplane won’t plunge into the ocean). But despite Levy’s neuroses, neither he nor any fellow reluctant travelers at home can resist the wondrous beauty to be found at each stop.
The series is extravagantly produced and no doubt expensive. Gorgeous blue oceans in South Asia and the snow-covered white cliffs of Finland look so incredible that it’s a wonder that anyone would want to fork over a fortune to stay in an overpriced resort rather than be among nature. That is, until we’re treated to a glimpse of some of the finest luxury hotels in the world. The dining and lodging found in these places is peerless, but Levy has agreed only to sleep there. For everything else, he’ll be venturing out with the help of his local guides.
That’s where the real caustic fun begins. Levy is hesitant from the moment he takes a step outside his hotels. But his hesitation doesn’t necessarily translate to an unwillingness, which would make a show like this much more obnoxious to watch. This isn’t immersion therapy; it’s simply some light coaxing. The show works to introduce its host gradually to his new surroundings, while feeding on his fears for the audience’s enjoyment. And it results in some wildly entertaining asides. Watching Levy prepare for the Japanese monsoon season in a real-life simulator, being pelted with wind and rain with his muffled voice saying, “They’re not kidding around here!” is a type of plainly stated absurdism you’d only get from Levy’s brand of acerbic wit.
One might think that Levy’s trepidation toward exploring might get old after the third or fourth episode, but both he and the show’s producers continuously find new, interesting ways to outdo themselves. It helps that Levy’s aversions don’t feel the same as, say, your great aunt Kathy’s. He doesn’t march around with the haughty air of a Western colonialist, demanding five-star service and the comforts of North American idleness.
Our host really is game to walk the walk, saying “yes” to everything with a perfectly healthy dose of nerves. You can watch Stanley Tucci gallivanting around Italy on his travel show—tanning his hairy forearms in the Venetian sun—all day long. But an experienced tourist won’t give you the same gut laugh you’ll get from watching Levy duck under a low Venetian bridge. “Your trip to Venice could be over in a big way!” he chides, wary of an international decapitation.
The charm of The Reluctant Traveler really does lie in Levy’s effortless dad jokes. In one episode, he’s perusing the guest book at a historic hotel that has housed famous celebrities and important diplomats for decades. Pointing at Liberace’s signature, Levy notes, “He drew a little candelabra on the piano, in case people didn’t know if it was that Liberace.” That arid wit doesn’t quite translate for the hotel staff, which just makes the show better each time it flies over their heads.
Occasionally, the show did cause me to hold my breath and hope for the best. You don’t really have to worry about what a lovable Canadian curmudgeon might say in Venice and Finland, but things could get dicey in Japan and South Africa. I’d prefer to go the rest of my life watching Best in Show without the knowledge that one of its stars did or said something racist—or at least culturally unsavory—on a travel show. Luckily, things don’t ever become quite that sour. Yes, we’re still privy to what is very much an older, white Canadian’s introduction to Tokyo, but no one’s going to be burning their Christopher Guest DVD collection over it.
In the Tokyo episode, Levy’s guide is a fellow Canadian from Toronto, who moved to Japan after a lifelong love for the country’s art and way of life. It could be argued here that it would be more informative for both the show’s host and its audience to kick the episode off with a more significant taste of authentic Japanese culture, perhaps with a guide who was born and raised in the country. That’s a perfectly sound dispute, and certainly one of The Reluctant Traveler’s misses. Levy doesn’t need to be treated with kid gloves at every turn—the man has an AARP membership!
But the show is designed to function as a guide for fellow timid travelers. This is a series for the people who spend all that money for a trip to a beautiful, exotic location far from their doorstep, only to never leave the resort grounds. That kind of planning is pointless, and yet, familiar to so many. Why do you think The White Lotus has been so successful? People can see themselves, or their families or friends, in its myopic characters.
Many people find that expanding their horizons is filled with roadblocks: where to stay, what to eat, what to do, how to immerse themselves in places where they might not speak the language. The Reluctant Traveler is a wonderful way for equally jittery hermits to see that there’s enough out there for introverts, too. This might be the perfect television for fathers who have sunken so hard into their recliners they’ve made a dad-sized dent, but it’s just as effective for anyone with a touch of pandemic-induced agoraphobia. We have but one life to live. Why not spend our time embracing the world around us, instead of languishing in what’s familiar? Levy is proof that, even at 75, it’s never too late to step a brogue loafer outside of your comfort zone.
