I am a baby of the 2000s (and particularly San Diego), which implies the work of Will Ferrell (and particularly “Anchorman”) is deeply vital to me. Star automobiles like “Step Brothers” and “Talladega Nights” – did I additionally point out “Anchorman”? — embodies the swagger and blissful ignorance of Bush-era masculinity, much more so than Ferrell’s impressions of the president on “Saturday Night time Dwell.” I’ve a deep and abiding love for Ferrell’s basic work, and I’ve carried that affection into more moderen efforts like a small function in “Barbie” or the pleasant “Eurovision Tune Contest,” a movie impressed by Ferrell’s private ardour for the annual spectacle.
I hope this throat clearing will lend me some credibility after I say this: “The Hawk,” Ferrell’s first time showing on the prime of the decision listing for a scripted TV comedy, is a significant disappointment — particularly for this longtime resident of a whale’s vagina.
From the beginning, “The Hawk” is haunted by its personal potential. Set on this planet {of professional} golf, the present’s storyline immediately brings to thoughts “Talladega Nights,” one other story of a star’s rise, fall and rise once more in a conservative-coded sport. Ferrell followers have additionally had years to anticipate this explicit challenge: A model of “The Hawk” was first reported in 2023 as a thinly veiled model of golf’s ascendant LIV tour backed by Saudi Arabia, a controversial rival of the PGA. Comic Ramy Youssef boarded the sequence in 2024, solely to exit months later as a consequence of alleged “artistic variations.” Maybe alongside the identical traces, the ultimate model of “The Hawk” makes solely cursory point out of LIV and its accompanying geopolitics, specializing in Ferrell’s golfer Lonnie “The Hawk” Hawkins, his tried return to the PGA Tour, and his relationship together with his son Lance (Jimmy Tatro), now a PGA professional himself.
“The Hawk” took so lengthy to launch, in actual fact, that it was overtaken by one other A streaming-native half-hour of father-son golf, led by a 2000s film star. Owen Wilson’s “Stick,” which aired final summer time on Apple TV, is not precisely a masterpiece, however I usually considered it fondly whereas going via 10 episodes of “The Hawk.” Maybe that is as a result of the 2 sequence function similar iconography, akin to a tour bus pushed by an older, irascible caddy, and characters, akin to a nemesis whose enterprise savvy and composure distinction with the messiness of our anti-hero. (Right here, Luke Wilson replaces Timothy Olyphant.) Maybe that is as a result of “Stick,” which was renewed for a Season 2, is significantly better at explaining the basics, attraction and dynamics {of professional} golf to neophytes — data with out which I’d be misplaced watching “The Hawk,” which hardly cares for such exposition. Or possibly it is as a result of “Stick” makes use of Wilson’s star persona, however feels a lot much less beholden to the detriment of the story than “The Hawk,” which is dedicated to glorifying Lonnie, and by extension Ferrell, above all else.
Lonnie is, in fact, a basic Ferrell sort: egocentric, unapologetic, and oblivious to the ripple results of these qualities on the folks round him. (Hawk’s approach to clear his thoughts earlier than a swing is to think about himself shredding an air guitar on a golf membership to the tune of Steely Dan’s “Reelin’ within the Years.”) It additionally got here to life with the assistance of two longtime Ferrell associates who stepped in after Youssef’s departure: Harper Steele, an “SNL” alum and co-star of the candy highway journey documentary “Will & Harper,” and Chris Henchy, co-founder of Humorous Or Die. with Ferrell and his former producing accomplice Adam McKay, a director whose curiosity in social points hasn’t at all times served him nicely however who’s vastly missed right here.
With out the rise of a disruptive power like LIV and with a artistic crew whose perspective is so carefully tied to Ferrell’s, “The Hawk” floats for essentially the most half, missing each the chew of satire and the driving power of narrative momentum. To the extent that “The Hawk” has an inciting incident, it is the demise of Hawk’s longtime caddy, Outdated Henry (Keith David), and his substitute by Sam (Fortune Feimster), a drifter who is aware of nothing about irons or birdies however shares Hawk’s. pleasure of dwelling. (His first buy with the event winnings is an all-leather tracksuit, which pairs nicely with Hawk’s loud patterned pants. Costume designer Christie Wittenborn makes her mark!) A buddy comedy about two ne’er-do-wells who shake up the staid, starchy world of nation membership athletes is a enjoyable concept, however Sam appears to kick off Lonnie’s comeback with a single pep discuss earlier than disappearing for a lot of the season’s center. “The Hawk” appears cautious of attributing Lonnie’s sudden revival to anybody aside from Lonnie himself, which additionally makes it appear considerably random as a result of Lonnie can be resistant to introspection or change.
As soon as Lonnie returns to the PGA Tour, he’s in direct competitors together with his personal son, whose traumatic response to his absent father’s hedonism is one in every of harsh self-discipline and self-denial that begins to evaporate underneath the stress. Lance has a extra fascinating, or a minimum of extra clearly outlined, arc than the cussed stasis of Hawk who’s entertainingly performed by “American Vandal” star Tatro, though he’s surrounded by feminine characters that suffer from an absence of dimension. Lance’s fiancée Natalie (Katelyn Taver), an “aspiring health influencer”, is a largely ignored voice of cause somewhat than a comedic creation in her personal proper, regardless of how a lot there’s to parody about her chosen career; Lonnie’s ex-wife and Lance’s mom, Stacy, is a completely legal use of Ferrell’s frequent display screen accomplice Molly Shannon. Stacy would not get a lot to do moreover drink a canned cocktail and shout no-joke traces about how a lot she hates her ex, though a minimum of Lonnie notes admiringly (and precisely) how sizzling she is.
However there isn’t any larger downside with “The Hawk” than Lonnie himself. The present makes him irritating sufficient to be annoying whereas stopping wanting giving the character any actual edge, stranding Lonnie in a wierd valley between the 2 poles. When Lonnie instructed Lance that he would not let him play with Legos as a result of he did not need his son to finish up “half-faggot,” I gasped on the flash of one thing really ugly. (Most of Lonnie’s antics are goofy stuff, like arguing mid-term with a coworker.) A couple of minutes later, nevertheless, we’re instructed {that a} traumatic reminiscence from Lance’s childhood was a fabrication; he doesn’t need to forgive his father for this, as a result of there’s nothing to forgive. Lonnie was a foul dad or mum, we’re instructed, however that was not the case. that dangerous, as a result of “The Hawk” cannot bear to go away him alone.
Total, Lonnie comes off as a half-baked, toned-down model of a Danny McBride protagonist — maybe no coincidence, on condition that McBride collaborator David Gordon Inexperienced is the manufacturing supervisor of “The Hawk.” McBride is arguably to Trump’s America what Ferrell was to Bush’s: an artist with a eager ear for the messages {that a} disordered tradition sends to males looking for identification, with outcomes that solely develop extra disagreeable over time because the underlying illness goes untreated. However “The Hawk” doesn’t appear to significantly replicate a time or place. The sequence’ pursuits theoretically lie in a nuclear household step by step coming again collectively, although even that theme is pursued half-heartedly. As soon as Lonnie’s mojo returns, he discovers that legions of followers from his heyday had been merely ready to see him carry out another time. As a longtime Ferrell fanatic, I can not say that “The Hawk” conjures up the identical emotion.
All 10 episodes of “The Hawk” at the moment are streaming on Netflix.