Larry David Left ‘Seinfeld’ to Make One of Roger Ebert’s Most Hated Movies

In the 1990s, no TV show was bigger than Seinfeld. Though lead actor and co-creator Jerry Seinfeld got most of the attention at the time, series co-creator Larry David was Seinfeld‘s showrunner for seven seasons, a period of time when he also wrote many of the show’s classic episodes like “The Contest” and “The Puffy Shirt.” But during the show’s peak, in May 1996, David left the series.

Just a few years later, in 2000, he’d begin a run on another iconic comedy series, Curb Your Enthusiasm, which he both created and starred in, and which cemented his reputation as one of the greatest comedic geniuses alive. Though that show ended in 2024, after 12 seasons, he’s once again on our TVs, as the star and co-creator of HBO’s Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness.

But in between Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm, David made the decision to write and direct a movie, Sour Grapes. And in true Seinfeldian fashion, the end result was so disastrous that Roger Ebert ripped it to shreds in his review and Larry David never directed a movie again.

Larry David Left ‘Seinfeld’ After Its Seventh Season

Image via NBC

It can’t be overstated what Seinfeld meant to sitcoms. Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld changed the very nature of TV comedy, with their show about Jerry, George (Jason Alexander), Kramer (Michael Richards), and Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), a group of selfish jerks who got into endless shenanigans, often got their comeuppance, and lived out David’s famous mantra of “no hugging, no learning.”

After Season 7, while Seinfeld was still the biggest show in America, Larry David chose to walk away, and wouldn’t return until 1998 to write the controversial series finale. So why did he leave? In an interview with Charlie Rose, David said, “It wasn’t burnout. I had plenty of ideas. It wasn’t that. I just felt like I was ready. I had done that, and now I wanted to try something else.” That something else was making a movie.

‘Sour Grapes’ Is the Only Movie Larry David Ever Made

In 1998, Larry David wrote and directed Sour Grapes. The comedy stars Steven Weber (who was just coming off a successful run on Wings) and Craig Bierko as cousins Evan and Richie Maxwell. The two take a gambling trip to Atlantic City, where Richie borrows a quarter from Evan for the slot machine. That coin results in a near half million dollar win, which leads to the conflict. Evan thinks, because it was his quarter, that he deserves a big chunk of the money, but Richie only wants to give him a small portion of it. Let the hijinks ensue.

If you have never seen or even heard of Sour Grapes, you’re not alone. The film made an absolutely abysmal $123,000 at the worldwide box office. But this wasn’t a case of a film that missed with audiences but was a hit with critics: to this day, it has just a 27% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes. Sour Grapes was poorly received by most critics, who found the film unfunny and even offensive at times, with jokes about cancer, race, and auto-fellatio. And, like something out of a Larry David script, the most insulting review came from the most famous film critic of all time. Roger Ebert was the man who could make or break a movie with his words, and he utterly destroyed Sour Grapes.

Roger Ebert Gave ‘Sour Grapes’ a Thumbs Down Review

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For decades, no critic wielded more power than Roger Ebert. After becoming the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1975, Ebert and his friend, fellow critic Gene Siskel, dominated film discourse for decades with their legendary thumbs-up and thumbs-down ratings on their review show, At the Movies, which premiered in 1986.

But Ebert also continued to write reviews for the Chicago Sun-Times. And it was in that paper that, in April 1998, Ebert reviewed Sour Grapes, giving it a critical thrashing so severe, he omitted his usual four-star ratings for a simple thumbs down. “‘Sour Grapes’ is a comedy about things that aren’t funny,” Ebert wrote, before going on to say that the film “is tone-deaf comedy; the material, the dialogue, the delivery and even the soundtrack are labored and leaden. How to account for the fact that Larry David is one of the creators of ‘Seinfeld’? Maybe he works well with others.” There was no coming back from his most savage line: “I can’t easily remember a film I’ve enjoyed less.” Ouch.

‘Sour Grapes’ Easter Eggs Are Buried Within ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’

Image via HBO

Though David has never made a major public comment on the film or the frosty reception it received, there are a number of Sour Grapes Easter eggs in Curb Your Enthusiasm. A Sour Grapes poster hangs in his office in the show’s pilot, and in the Season 1 episode “AAMCO,” Larry arrives home to find that Cheryl has lent a friend a copy of Sour Grapes to watch. When Cheryl asks the friend what she thought of the film, she replies that it was “the perfect length.”

And in 2002, David got his revenge: During Curb Your Enthusiasm’s Season 3 finale, “The Grand Opening,” Larry accidentally injures a food critic named Portico (Paul Willson), who gives restaurants a thumbs up or a thumbs down. With his hands now broken and in a cast, Larry tries to help him, leading to the usual hilarious Curb Your Enthusiasm antics.

Sour Grapes is not a very good movie, but it’s also not among the worst ever. And David deserves credit for taking a huge risk — he could have easily made something very similar to Seinfeld. Instead, he was more ambitious with a story that’s actually about something (the corrupting power of money) rather than nothing. It’s not filled with big laughs, and there are strange, repetitive sex jokes and other bits that don’t land, but it’s the work of a creative genius taking a risk and refusing to settle. If you’re a fan of Larry David, Sour Grapes is worth giving a chance.