BY TOM GLIATTO
DRAMA
Huff, now in its second season, is about the tumultuous life of an L.A. psychiatrist (Hank Azaria), so naturally it's crammed with articulate people endlessly explicating each other's failings. Ids, egos and superegos slam around like sumo wrestlers in an elevator. But with alcoholism, schizophrenia, cancer, out-of-wedlock pregnancy, speed freaks and infidelity piled on, it feels less like Freud's fun house than an opportunity for one performer after another to launch into frenzied, vituperative speeches. Clear the decks—monologue time!
That even goes for Blythe Danner, a great actress who won an Emmy last season as Huff's mother, a fragile yet combative martini-swiller. Her single best moment here comes when she does nothing more than stroke a houseplant. Such a relief. Oliver Platt, as a lawyer who parties way too hard, cuts through the sweaty pathos with humor, but the only true calm comes with Anjelica Huston: She's a therapist who puts Huff on a drug course to help him break through his midlife crises. Huston gives an understated performance that still manages to show off her toughness and sly sexiness. Otherwise it's Huff and puff.
