What <em>Hacks </em>Understands About the Myth of Self-Betterment
Deborah Vance, the caustic stand-up played by Jean Smart in HBO Max’s Hacks, likes to live large. Take her new ride, for instance: It’s a gussied-up tour bus with her initials emblazoned in hot pink on the side, and it’s equipped with a soda machine and a regenerative light-therapy bed. It also has a “much better master bedroom than the last time I was on one of these things,” Deborah coos as she ambles inside. It’s a vehicle fit for a celebrity of her stature.
The bus is also, figuratively speaking, the story engine for the Emmy-winning comedy’s second. Lucy and Desi piled into for their first film together. Robin Williams drove an to the top of the box office. Buses and customized vans make for excellent pressure cookers, and barreling through towns of varying sizes can lead to colorful encounters, unexpected detours, and maybe even profound observations. Mayhem and enlightenment, in road-trip comedies, go hand in hand.
