It’s preposterous, it’s been done to death, the supposed locales are enough to make a New Yorker have a nervous breakdown, and, oh yes, it’s a whole lotta fun.
I’m talking about “White Collar,” USA’s second-generation, sophisticated caper-ama series in the mold of “Burn Notice.”
Like “Burn Notice,” “White Collar” has a reluctant couple — except instead of the gorgeous woman/man combo, this time it’s a gorgeous male buddy couple.
The series is about another internationally-known, elusive, criminal mastermind/art thief/you name it named Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer).
In the first five minutes of the show, he escapes from a maximum security prison by buying a guard uniform on the Internet (I guess it’s not that secure a prison) and simply walking out.
FBI guy Peter Burke (Tom DeKay) is interrupted mid-explosion and called back to headquarters, where he is told he must hunt down Caffrey.
It takes him about 15 minutes to find the master criminal. (I guess he wasn’t that elusive.)
As masterminds are known to do, Caffrey notices that Burke has a piece of wire on his shoulder left over from the explosion and proposes a deal: He’ll tell Burke what that stray wire really is, if he can work for the FBI as a partner-in-crime solving, instead of returning him to the clink. Right.
Fast forward: Done deal.
Caffrey, electronic tracking anklet in place, is forced to move into a flophouse, because that’s all the government can afford.
While shopping in the thrift store, Caffrey just happens to run into the richest woman in New York (Dianne Carroll) who is giving her late husband’s designer suits away. Within minutes, he’s living, yes, as a boarder in her mansion in Manhattan. All because he liked the suits.
It’s so insane, it tests the mind — but not as much as the locales.
For example, Caffrey manages to steal a Rolls Royce at a New York airport (it looks like LA, but it’s supposed to be JFK!) by pretending to be the curbside valet parker. Valet parking at JFK? What planet are they on?
Then they go running into the 42nd St. library — arguably one of the most famous buildings in the city — claiming it’s the National Archives, which is very distracting. Likely, viewers outside the biggest city in the country won’t notice, but still.
All that aside, Bomer and Dekay (he played the guy on “Carnivale” with the limp who kept getting dirtier every week) have terrific chemistry, and Tiffani Thiessen as the fed’s wife is a good fit.
Suspend all disbelief and relax. It ain’t “Inspector Lewis,” but it is stylish, good fun with dialogue as slick as those old Rat Pack suits Caffrey loves so well.