Very few celebrities can combine their public persona with their craft in a way that makes for genuinely interesting art. Of course, there is no one on this planet quite like Jeff Goldblum.
At this point, it doesn’t really matter if the man we all perceive the West Homestead native to be is really him or a carefully cultivated bit. The version of the “Jurassic Park” and “Independence Day” star we’ve gotten over the last decade-plus is a guy people seem genuinely fascinated by regardless of what he’s doing. That’s no easy feat in our oversaturated media environment, but Goldblum manages to pull it off.
It’s the only way to explain why “The World According to Jeff Goldblum” exists and why Disney+ and National Geographic opted to make a second season of it, premiering Friday. The show’s whole premise is Goldblum exploring the things he wants to learn more about in the most Goldblum ways possible. It runs on his sheer force of personality and endless curiosity about everyone and everything.
Disney+ provided the Post-Gazette with the first five episodes of the show’s second season. Each one delves into a specific subject that Goldblum picks apart to determine what about it makes humans care so much. Unsurprisingly, your enjoyment of “The World According According to Jeff Goldblum” will correlate directly to how much unfiltered Goldblum you can take.
Last season took on such disparate topics as sneakers, tattoos, gaming, coffees and pools. He starts off season two with five equally random subjects: dogs, dance, magic, monsters and fireworks. Some are more entertaining than others, but all succeed at being quintessentially Goldblum endeavors, which is probably what most viewers will be tuning in for anyway.
Most of the action involves Goldblum finding experts to discuss these subjects and demonstrating some of his own theories on why people are so into them. The experts generally seem to be based in either Atlanta or California, which could be the result of COVID-related travel restraints. Either way, the locations don’t seem to be quite as diverse as last season’s, at least not yet.
That doesn’t mean the show is skimping on fun guests or production values, though. Each episode contains an animated sequence or two that Goldblum narrates to explain how he and most other people view each topic. They’re all as zany and weirdly informative as he is.
Again, the main draw here is Goldblum, who is decked out in wild outfits that don’t always fit the situation but certainly add a layer of whimsy to even the heavier themes. Goldlbum’s eyes are always wide and, even when he is skeptical, he mostly manages to maintain a “wow, isn’t this neat” demeanor.
In terms of how well each individual episode works, it’s hard to argue with 25 minutes dedicated to man’s best friend. The dance episode provides a somewhat cringeworthy but still captivating experience as Goldblum enters a few modern arenas in which no one would have expected to find him.
He enlists some famous illusionists for his deep-dive into magic and leverages some of his Hollywood connections when exploring our fascination with monsters. It’s fun to watch him initially scoff at the idea of Bigfoot and slowly be convinced by two monster hunters that there’s at least a chance Bigfoot and other mythical creatures exist.
The least effective early episode is the one on fireworks, mostly because there was simply less to say about manmade light shows than broader prompts like dancing or magic. That said, the fireworks episode and others each contain multiple moments where you’ll be sure to think, “Only Jeff Goldblum could make this so amusing.”
There’s also a bit of Pittsburgh sprinkled throughout this batch of early episodes. He didn’t directly visit the Steel City like he did in season one, but there are occasional photos and videos of a young Goldblum, his siblings and his parents. We also get to see newer members of his family up close via short interactions with his wife, Emilie, their two sons and their dog, Woody.
Again, how much you enjoy the show depends fully on how much you want to see what else Goldblum has up his immaculately decorated sleeve. If his wealth of charisma and, well, Goldblumness is your thing, there is a lot to engage with — and maybe learn from — in “The World According to Jeff Goldblum.”
Joshua Axelrod: jaxelrod@post-gazette.com and Twitter @jaxelburgh.
First Published: November 12, 2021, 11:00 a.m.
Updated: November 12, 2021, 5:07 p.m.
