'The 'Burbs' review: Keke Palmer and pals keep laughs coming in reboot of Tom Hanks' 1989 movie

WHAT IT'S ABOUT Fans of early period Tom Hanks movies fondly recall "The 'Burbs," a black comedy from 1989 in which Hanks' suburban dad becomes obsessed with the idea that there's something very wrong with his eccentric neighbors. 

Still, even the biggest admirers of the movie could not have anticipated its return in the form of an eight-episode TV series nearly 40 years later.

Back to "The 'Burbs" we go on Peacock.

Keke Palmer ("Nope") replaces Hanks as the main character. She's a young mom and wife named Samira who has moved with her husband Rob (Jack Whitehall) and their baby boy to Rob's childhood home on a street called Mayfield Place [Mayfield was the bucolic town where "Leave It to Beaver" was set] that looks a lot like the street in the movie and Wisteria Lane on "Desperate Housewives," because it's the same set on the Universal Studios back lot in California.

Samira gets to know her neighbors, including characters played by the great comic actors Paula Pell ("Girls 5eva") and Mark Proksch ("What We Do in the Shadows"). She has questions about the rundown Victorian home across the street, where a murder once may have happened and where the new owner (Justin Kirk) seems to have some strange habits.

MY SAY Those who recall the original movie will remember it for its broad comedy with an emphasis on special effects — the director, Joe Dante, best known for "Gremlins," spent a lot of the '80s specializing in that sort of thing. 

They won't recall an abundance of plotting or enough story to sustain a season of television. So series creator Celeste Hughey goes her own way, maintaining elements of the same tone and visual style, but inventing a new "'Burbs" universe, complete with marital drama, suburban satire, elaborate back stories and extended bits of comic horror weirdness.

A viewing of the first four episodes shows that the approach works well.

Hughey and her team are smart about the slow drip of revelations as Samira and her friends investigate the new neighbor. Dramatic heft comes from Samira's increasing realization that Rob knows a lot more about the neighbors than he has let on. But, fortunately, the focus never strays too far from the comedy. The usual bits of filler, including B-plots that distract from the central focus, are here, but kept to a minimum.

Palmer, a charismatic actor since childhood, gives another standout performance. It's not easy to find the time to create a real, sympathetic character in a show filled with so many digressions and distractions, but she does it.

The main reason to give this version of "The 'Burbs'" a chance, of course, is the interplay between Palmer, Pell, Proksch and Julia Duffy ("Newhart") as the neighbors with a lot of time on their hands. They keep the energy high and the laughs coming.

BOTTOM LINE A pleasant surprise and an unlikely success.