©Courtesy of Apple TV

It is hard to switch careers at Andrew Cooper’s age. In his case, it is especially difficult, because his boss engineered a humiliating scandal to justify firing him. However, Gen X’ers usually have the resourcefulness to find a way. Admittedly, Cooper makes some extraordinarily bad decisions when he resorts to high-end burglary, but it allows him to maintain his tony lifestyle and continue to support his ex-wife and wastrel children, at last for a while, in creator Jonathan Tropper’s nine-episode Your Friends & Neighbors, which premieres today on Apple TV+.

In Westmont Village, people own expensive security systems, but rarely bother to lock their front doors. They also have a lot of expensive stuff chucked away half-forgotten in drawers, after their seasonal brag-worthiness wore off. You could consider them under-performing assets that Andrew “Coop” Cooper could apply to his own bottom line.

Shortly after divorcing his wife Mel, whom he caught literally in bed with an acquaintance (the term “friend” no longer applies), Cooper was fired from his hedge fund, ostensibly because he slept with a junior associate in a completely different division. Technically, she never complained, but Cooper’s slimy boss, Jack Bailey, seized the opportunity to raid his clients and his capital account. Handcuffed by his non-compete contract, Cooper finds himself essentially unemployable in his chosen field and mired in the mother of mid-life crises.

©Courtesy of Apple TV

Of course, he still owes Mel alimony, even though Nick Brandes, the former NBA player, turned gym mogul, obviously considers himself Cooper’s domestic replacement. In addition, their entitled daughter Tori hopes to attend Princeton in the fall. Her brother Hunter is hardly Ivy League material, but his discipline problems also generate plenty of expenses. Plus, Cooper has a wealth manager to support. That would be Barney Choi, who must continually fund his endless home remodeling project.

At least Coop has a new roommate, his fragile sister Ali, who has yet to recover from her last breakdown. Cooper also half-heartedly engages in secret hookups with Samantha Levitt, a former family friend litigating a nasty, take-no-prisoners divorce.

Coop’s first theft was more of an opportunistic act of passive aggression, but it turns into a second career when he negotiates an arrangement with his tough-talking fence. Yet, even when Cooper pulls off a successful score, he still sinks deeper into a quagmire of his own making. The audience understands things will get much worse, judging from the in media res proologue. However, it is not immediately apparent whose dead body Coop awakens beside.

Based on the first seven (out of nine) episodes provided for review, it appears safe to say sneaking around other peoples’ homes uninvited entails a fair degree of risk. Nevertheless, Cooper repeatedly pushes his luck, consciously disregarding the warning signs that ought to scare him straight. He admits as much himself, through his heavy-handed noir-ish voice-overs.

©Courtesy of Apple TV

Indeed, Tropper and his battery of co-writers burden Coop like an over-laden pack mule, with obsessively detailed monologues critiquing consumerist culture, that reflect a knowledge of luxury re-sale markets worthy of the staff writers at The Robb Report.

The comparisons between Cooper and Mad Men’s Don Draper are also inevitable and already quite frequent. However, Tropper and lead actor Jon Hamm tap into a generational zeitgeist, in the way they depict how Cooper’s competence and experience are cast aside, to satisfy short-term greed. For Hamm’s own generation, Cooper might hold greater resonance than his career-making Draper.

Regardless, Hamm is aptly cast as the aging “Master of the Universe.” He can do Cooper’s snark and his desperation with equal facility. In fact, Hamm so successfully humanizes Cooper’s malaise-ridden soul, he should earn the future right to portray John Updike’s Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom in middle-age, if anyone adapts the latter two Rabbit novels.

Hamm also quickly develops terrific chemistry with Amanda Peet, who brings surprising complexity and darkness to Mel Cooper. Watching them play off each other, it is easy to believe their characters share years of history.

Similarly, Hamm builds a solid rapport with Aimee Carrero, as Elena Benavides, the housemaid who becomes his unlikely ally. However, Olivia Munn has less to work with portraying Levitt, the not-so-merry divorcee-in-progress, whose sole initial purpose appears to be complicating Cooper’s life. However, Mark Tallman and Hoon Lee serve as productive comic foils for Hamm, as the swaggering Brandes and neurotic (and somewhat parasitic) Choi. Corbin Bernsen is also perfectly cast as the scheming Bailey.

Frankly, the contempt for conspicuous consumption grows somewhat tiresome. Viewers with the means might just buy a limited edition Patek Philippe watch, as an act of subversive defiance. Weirdly, the tone of the writing slips and slides throughout the series, in ways that suggest Apple execs gave Tropper a raft of contradictory notes. Yet, the illicit intrigue and the Cooper family drama consistently play out with a great deal of credibility. Recommended for the compelling and darkly comic one-darned-thing-after-another chaos, Your Friends & Neighbors starts streaming today (4/11) on Apple TV+.

Grade: B

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Here’s the trailer of the film.