‘Jury Duty Presents: The Company Retreat’ review: The return of the prank show is comedy magic

In 2023, Jury duty entered our screens as a prank show in an amazing way, where the subject Ronald Gladden was not treated as a joke, but as the hero of a strange story. From its highly committed cast (including star James Marsden) to Gladden’s straight man work, the series felt like lightning in a bottle.

That is, until now.

Jury duty is back for its second, self-titled season Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat. And because of its massive scale and lovable new lead, it’s proof that lightning can, indeed, strike twice.

What Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat about?

Company Retreat remixes Jury dutyreal premise, swapping a court hearing for an annual week-long business trip. That company is a subsidiary of Rockin’ Grandma’s Hot Sauce, and all but its employees are actors.

The only non-actor is Anthony Norman, brought in as a temporary assistant to help organize the company. This year’s reversal is big: Rockin’ Grandma’s CEO (Jerry Hauck) is officially handing over the reins to his son, Dougie Jr. (Alex Bonifer). Dougie has spent the last few years living in Jamaica as part of a group of Rastafarians, and has come back with questionable accent choices and almost no business experience. Will you be able to make a good first impression on all of Rockin’ Grandma’s employees?

The majority of the staff is filled with outstanding characters, including remote IT worker Claire (Rachel Kaly), whose efforts to avoid the sun grow unusually intense; receptionist PJ (Marc-Sully Saint-Fleur), who plans to become a snack-fluencer; and warehouse manager Jimmy (Jim Woods), whose signature unrelenting good looks are what funny dreams are made of. All the actors deliver memorable moments, with workplace encounters like the oddballs of The office. A lot of the fun this season is seeing them fully commit to their role during the week. It is truly an Olympic work of comedy.

Another attraction of the season is its quality. Besides the trip to Margaritaville, Jury duty most of the time he lived inside the courthouse or hotel where the characters were tortured, giving the crew a strict, controlled environment in which to work. In Company RetreatThe show runs on a large outdoor campus. There are a lot of moving parts, which means more ways for Anthony to get the jig up. In addition to this presenting an interesting technical challenge, it is also useful to set up Company Retreat except for the original Jury duty and proves that this format is as powerful as a large anthology series, as long as it can get the right leads.

Jury Duty Presents: Company RetreatAnthony’s star is happiness.

Marc-Sully Saint-Fleur and Anthony Norman in “Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat.”
Credit: Prime Video

Thank you, Company Retreat he got the lead he deserved from Anthony. Like Ronald, he doesn’t shy away from the strange characters he encounters. Instead, he befriends them to the point of taking them through even the most difficult situations. The highlight of the season is the growing friendship between her and Dougie. While Bonifer often takes Dougie to annoying extremes, there is an endearing quality to his ambition as CEO. Anthony sticks with that in hopes of helping her reach that goal, making for a sweet bromance.

Like actors, Anthony takes responsibility hard – not in performance, as he knows that this is all a lie, but in Rockin’ Grandma herself. Although he has only been working there for a few days, he is fully prepared to do whatever it takes to support the “family” at the heart of the business. When a venture capital firm tries to do a sketch show that might acquire Rockin’s Grandma, Anthony is ready to fire the other workers.

It’s a testament to his personality, but also the level of immersion Company RetreatIt’s a complicated trick. Sometimes, that immersion means the season can feel stronger than the original Jury dutyespecially with its focus on (fake) party binding. Like Ronald, the final reveal is more exciting than anything, but you have to wonder what the implications are The Truman Show– the man will have it.

However, it helps that Anthony is always willing to roll with the punches. Plus, he’s the perfect audience stand-in, unafraid to laugh in disbelief at some of the season’s most brutal one-liners. It’s not often that I laugh so hard at someone who laughs.

“You couldn’t even do this on a TV show, honestly,” Ronald said while speaking to the head of the confessional. “This is true and true. No one could sit down and write a text like this.”

Well, it turns out they did, and it makes for great TV – but just like Ronald once Jury dutyit’s Anthony who takes it up a notch.

The first three episodes of Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat debuts March 20 on Prime Video, with new episodes every week.