Yes, Will Ferrell is funny, and we all know it. His latest Netflix series, The Hawk, will likely tickle the funny bone of most viewers and critics, the latter mostly because critics who double as influencers and junket junkies love to protect their relationships with big-name stars. At some point, however, we all become immune to the absurdity and exaggerated confidence that once came equipped with a perfectly timed deadpan delivery.
With The Hawk, the deadpan delivery is gone, along with the emotional sincerity that used to be one of Ferrell’s trademarks. Ferrell now plays the same manic, over-the-top, ego-driven character he brings to nearly every movie. The character feels recycled: simply change the outfit, hairstyle, accent, and profession, and you have another interchangeable Will Ferrell comedy that fails to justify recycling the same tired comic persona.
Will Ferrell is a gifted performer who has proven he can do much more than this. Just look at his best performances in Stranger Than Fiction, Everything Must Go, and, of course, the pinnacle of his comedic career, Elf. That’s why Ferrell’s go-to persona is perfect for a 90-minute film; it never asks you to go past anything shallow. Making a television series like The Hawk, over three hours of Ferrell sthick that is stretched well beyond its limits.
The series follows Lonnie “The Hawk” Hawkins (Ferrell), a past-his-prime professional golfer who has fallen on hard times after losing his spot on the PGA Tour. Why? Well, it happens when he is caught on camera dismissing his caddie and bus driver (Nope’s Keith David) heart attack during a match. Lonnie is the “Popeye” Doyle of golf: obsessive, relentless, and unwilling to rest until he wins it all, no matter the cost.
Among the casualties of that obsession are his estranged wife, Stacy (Saturday Night Live’s Molly Shannon), and their son, Lance (Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice’s Jimmy Tatro), one of the biggest stars in golf. Lonnie’s determination to win cost him his marriage and any chance at a meaningful relationship with his son. With his bhs breaking down and no caddy, Hawkins hires Sam (The Mindy Project’s Fortune Feimster) as his ride-or-die, in a sidekick kind of way.
The Hawk is from Ferrell, Chris Henchy (The Other Guys), and Harper Steele, who headlined the streaming documentary, Will & Harper. The series starts strong but soon has very little to sustain its ten-episode season, stretching its central conflict between Ferrell’s Lonnie and Tatro’s Lance into a toxic father-son story. It fires off plenty of jokes per second. The problem is hardly any of them land, recycling the same material in nearly every episode.
Ferrell’s shtick has its charms, but like any long-term marriage, which is essentially what being a Ferrell fan for decades feels like, you eventually grow tired of seeing and hearing the same jokes on repeat, trying to add his own Happy Gilmore to his resume. On the other hand, Tatro is funnier because his deadpan delivery is almost entirely reactive. Often playing a passive straight man whose deadpan reactions shift into absurdity, allowing for variable comic rhythms rather than repetitiveness.
Most of the humor derives from the reactions to Ferrell, particularly those of Feimster, who serves as his comic foil. That makes the scripts all the more puzzling. Here, Ferrell launches into one tangent after another in an attempt to recapture his former comedic magic. However, no matter how many talented comic foils surround him, they cannot disguise the fact that we have seen this routine time and again. Only this time, with less-than-stellar results.
The result is a middling comedy with its moments that may still appeal to diehard fans of the comedy legend. However, The Hawk often feels like a collection of rejected sketches. They also rely on increasingly ineffective bursts of random absurdity. Ferrell’s performance leans too heavily on shouting, posturing, and the same exaggerated persona on repeat. Proving that yes, funny is, and can be funny, but comedy has to evolve, and this borders on exhaustion.
You can stream the first season of The Hawk exclusively on Netflix on June 17th!
The Hawk relays on Ferrell’s performance that leans too heavily on shouting, posturing, and the same exaggerated persona on repeat. Proving that yes, funny is, and can be funny, but comedy has to evolve, and this borders on exhaustion.
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GVN Rating
I am a film and television critic and a proud member of the Las Vegas Film Critic Society, Critics Choice Association, and a 🍅 Rotten Tomatoes/Tomato meter approved. However, I still put on my pants one leg at a time, and that’s when I often stumble over. When I’m not writing about movies, I patiently wait for the next Pearl Jam album and pass the time by scratching my wife’s back on Sunday afternoons while she watches endless reruns of California Dreams. I was proclaimed the smartest reviewer alive by actor Jason Isaacs, but I chose to ignore his obvious sarcasm. You can also find my work on InSession Film, Ready Steady Cut, Hidden Remote, Music City Drive-In, Nerd Alert, and Film Focus Online.
