Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

ctac Barely made it half way through to the second episode. It's painfully bad, not funny, plot sucks.. just nothingness.

branigansean This complete first series is a masterclass in tone. Berg and Hader have crafted an extremely enjoyable and tense piece with high stakes and big laughs. They've created an environment where everyone thrives. Great work.

esando1017 Great addicting show. More drama than comedy but still a lot of funny moments. Binged!

The_late_Buddy_Ryan As several clever blurb writers have already pointed out, there are lots of bad actors here: a bungling Chechen crime family plus the latently talented newbies in Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler!)'s cutrate acting class, just to start with. The Chechens are mostly funnier than the actors; funniest of all is gangster/hipster NoHo Hank (Anthony Carrigan); his faux-Russian accent is a phonetic tour de force. Of course, the series is built around Bill Hader's sweet-natured basic-guy persona. The premise may seem a little gimmicky at first, but Hader outdoes himself as the bummed-out ex-Marine turned contract killer who finds his life's purpose in Cousineau's stripmall atelier. The part of Cousineau himself's a slam-dunk for Henry Winkler; he's a veteran bit player/acting coach who can totally talk the talk, though we only get to see him walk the walk for about ten seconds (auditioning for the part of Man at Back of Line). Paula Newsome does well with the more challenging role of Det. Moss, a shrewd LA cop who (somehow) can't resist Cousineau's smarmy come-ons; Sarah Goldberg draws the short straw as Barry's blond love interest, but she still gets to represent with a resonant #MeToo subplot and a gender-blind Macbeth soliloquy. (Why do the women always have to do the heavy lifting?)There have been a lot of cable shows about aspiring actors and comics lately, but what really stands out with this one is the skillful plotting and pacing. After the "Travis Bickle meets the cast of Waiting for Guffman" concept has had some time to settle in, the writers--including Hader and sitcom laureate Alec Berg--take the old line about tragedy being repeated as farce and spin it around. The farcical tone of the first few eps has turned pretty dark by mid-season, and video director Hiro Murai (eps 5 and 6) gets a lot of the credit there. An ingenious plot twist in the closer clears the stage for a second season, though Barry's still going to have lots of 'splainin' to do in S2:E1...