The Hawk Series Review:
When you think of a sports film, the first story that comes to mind is the one of the underdog. While stories of the aged and grizzled veteran sportsman are also a frequent setting for a sports film, the odd one out is a sports comedy. Creating comedy stories about sports is doubly taxing, as the end result needs to balance both comedy and sports elements without leaving room for confusion. Will Ferrell’s latest sports comedy series, The Hawk, tries to balance both genres while also making space for the odd drama. Unfortunately, it lets down the comedy, drama, and sports elements with a messy, boring story.
Creator: Will Ferrell
Cast: Will Ferrell, Molly Shannon, Jimmy Tatro, Luke Wilson
Streamer: Netflix
Ferrell has built a career playing unlikable, loud characters. Be it Ron Burgundy from the Anchorman films or Ricky Bobby from Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006), the audience has been able to root for those characters, or at least be intrigued by their stories. But Ferrell’s character in The Hawk, Lonnie Hawkins, is despicable to a point that he is a turn-off. In his rise to attain glory in golf again, he antagonises everyone, thanks to him being a narcissist. He is oblivious to social cues, only focusing on what he wants to do, which ends up in continuous awkward situations. While all of these seem like perfect setups for comedic moments, the writing for these moments involving Lonnie goes beyond redemption. Ferrell tries his very best to establish a charming presence that acts as a safe foundation for the unlikable traits to be hilarious, but instead of being effortless, the comedy comes off as trying hard.
Beyond Lonnie’s golf adventures, The Hawk’s drama element resides in Lonnie’s dynamics with his family and friends. Ferrell is supported by an array of comedy actors, including his former Saturday Night Live castmate Molly Shannon. But they are all continuously let down by a lack of proper substance in writing. On his path to golf glory, Lonnie has to re-evaluate his relationship with his estranged wife, Stacy (Molly Shannon), battle out his archenemy Golden Fisk (Luke Wilson), who became the cause of Lonnie’s downfall years before The Hawk’s story begins, and most of all rejuvenate his relationship with his son, Lance (Jimmy Tatro). It is in interactions between these characters and Lonnie that the focus for comedy or drama is lost. While emotional moments between an absent Lonnie and his frustrated son almost translate to the viewer, a misplaced joke ruins the heavier scenes. This completely derails the audience’s care for Lonnie or any of the supporting characters.
The Hawk has a peculiar take on its characters. Minor characters like a bartender or an announcer have unique qualities that help the audience notice them, without having to overshadow the main characters. Little details like a flamboyant hand gesture or an ogling look add to scenes much better than most dialogues. But the same cannot be said for the jokes in The Hawk.
In pursuit of edgy comedy, The Hawk ends up making more toilet or genitalia-related humour than any other type of comedy. For example, when Lonnie tries to console Lance while they both are in the urinal, we see a unique bottom-up angle of Lonnie’s stream, which is executed to every word of one of his dialogues. This comes after multiple forced shots of testicle scratches, and a lengthy monologue which takes different types of releases as a metaphor for good and bad. While the objective could have been to be more edgy, it ends up becoming disgusting.
In the series, the cast has overacted beyond the writing, which deviates significantly from its original genres. The Hawk seems to be another attempt from Ferrell to tell the story of modern Americana from a different lens, but it ends up becoming one of his weakest projects and roles yet.