‘SmartLess: On the Road’ review: 3 men and a podcast — Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes on tour

Nina Metz | Chicago Tribune

Since 2020, actors Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes have co-hosted a podcast together called “SmartLess.” Last year they took the show out on a short national tour, and that adventure is documented in the six-part Max docuseries “SmartLess: On the Road,” which follows the celebrity friends and co-workers to stops on the East Coast, Midwest and then back to Los Angeles.

Perhaps the decision to shoot in black-and-white was meant to undercut some of the pampered Hollywood trappings of the trip. But director Sam Jones (whose credits include the Wilco film “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” and more recently a Tony Hawk documentary) isn’t here to encourage his subjects to shed their well-honed veneer so much as simply document their first-class travels and neurotic conversational jabs. As a trio, Arnett, Bateman and Hayes are self-aware enough to poke fun at their rarefied status while also being disinclined to abandon the perks of said status.

It’s an accumulation of moments that give you a window into the lives of the rich and famous, while also showcasing their talents as performers. Because when they’re on stage playing off each other, or interviewing a guest? They’re freewheeling and charming and know how to put on a good show.

It’s everything else that happens between those performances that’s such a curious blend of fascinating, off-putting and absorbing. They’re far from the worst-behaved celebrities to walk the earth. But too often they interact with their drivers and service workers as if everyone’s a bit player in their world (they usually catch themselves and apologize). They are forever staring at their phones, which is probably the result of being away from their loved ones, but maybe also reflects our collective reluctance to simply sit in a space and absorb what’s happening around us without the distractions of text messages and social media.

They travel by private plane (Arnett drives his sports car onto the tarmac) and from the word go, there’s an edge to their dynamic. Often it’s Hayes looking on amused as Bateman and Arnett needle one another. Is this for the camera or is this their typical interplay?

There’s an extraordinary amount of conversation about food. What they want to eat, how much they’re eating and why is the other guy eating that? Bateman’s running commentary about his companion’s food choices has a sweaty, judgmental undercurrent to it that suggests growing up in show business — an ecosystem where actors are often subject to pointless and mean-spirited comments about their weight and appearance — has done a number on him.

Anyway: Bateman wants gluten-free oatmeal in the mornings and entree-size salads for dinner. The other two want steak.

Hayes: “I think I might get a little surf and turf.” He pauses mid-sentence to turn to a producer off-camera: “You might have to cut this.”

Bateman, sarcastically: “Oh, make sure you cut that.”

Hayes: “Because it’s kind of extravagant, you know?”

Their sprawling hotel suites at the Four Seasons and the Peninsula? Extravagant too. It makes you wonder just how much the tour costs versus how much they’re bringing in with ticket sales. Was the Max series dreamed up as a way to recoup some of those expenses, or is this all profit?

Their audiences, they quickly realize, aren’t coming for thoughtful conversations with an MIT physicist. That kind of interview might work on the podcast normally, but it goes down like a lead balloon on stage. For these live performances, people want to see them riff with fellow celebrities like Will Ferrell, Matt Damon and Conan O’Brien. So the guys pivot and learn as they go.

In their off time, the threesome amuse and annoy each other in equal measure. There’s a punchiness to their interactions, especially in the first few episodes. Maybe that’s fueled by nervous energy about taking the podcast on the road — “I can’t believe they all showed up!” one of them says of the crowd after their first outing — or maybe this is just how they are together. Sometimes they come off like schoolboys looking for their next target to bully. Sometimes they’re genuinely interesting people with relatable anxieties and insecurities, and their conversation becomes less about jokes and barbs and deflection and more about just talking to one another.

Before he became an actor, Arnett worked manual labor jobs in his native Canada. “When I stopped tying my self-worth to what I do for a living, it changed everything.” During their stop in New York, Arnett’s partner visits with the couple’s baby and it’s lovely to see him with his youngest child, and then later his two older sons, who come to a show in L.A. In those brief glimpses, he’s affectionate and involved and alert with his kids.

Bateman tells him: “I’ve been watching what you’re doing as a father, even when you’re out of town, and I’m like, I can squeeze in being a better dad and be less selfish. Just watching the way that you’re doing it, I’m really envious.”

Hayes talks about why the friendship among these three Gen-Xers feels so relaxed and easy, because the alternative has been exhausting: “If you’re a gay man, you spend your life being made to feel like you have to apologize for who you are and kind of taking care of other people’s feelings about the awkwardness they may feel about you. So you constantly have to take that one step and go, ‘No, no, no — I don’t want to have sex with you, it’s OK, you can’t catch it.’ You’re constantly caretaking.”

Bateman talks about the pressures he felt as a child actor, where he could potentially be responsible for the unemployment of hundreds of people. As a minor, he needed a work permit, he says. And if his grades weren’t high enough, the permit wouldn’t be renewed and he would be written off the show. And if he was a lead, bad grades could potentially put the entire series — and everyone’s jobs — in jeopardy.

Financially and career-wise, an endeavor like the “SmartLess” podcast is just gravy. But you can see why they would be drawn to such a lo-fi project that asks them to tap into their natural charms and curiosity, paired with a desire to be around one another in a loosely structured format.

And as travels go, theirs are fairly low-key. By middle age, maybe they’re wondering if this is more trouble than it’s worth, no matter the five-star accommodations nor the endorphin rush they get from being on stage.

Back at the hotel, Arnett stares at his bed lost in thought. “When I was a younger man, we woulda just torn it up. And now I’m just thinking, like, how early is too early for me to go to sleep?”

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‘SMARTLESS: ON THE ROAD’

2.5 stars (out of 4)

Rating: TV-MA

How to watch: Max

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