Will Ferrells golf show The Hawk isnt up to…
The show is off-putting.
Will Ferrell’s Netflix golf comedy collection, “The Hawk,” is a pale imitation of his earlier work. He’s been all over the place doing outrageous antics to advertise. It’s a disgrace he didn’t seemingly put that effort into making sure the show wasn’t a dud.
Now streaming, “The Hawk” was co-created by Ferrell, Harper Steele (who was in the documentary “Will & Harper” with him), and Chris Henchy.
Will Ferrell in “The Hawk.” Getty Images for Netflix
Will Ferrell as Lonnie “The Hawk” Hawkins in “The Hawk.” Getty Images for Netflix
It follows Lonnie “The Hawk” Hawkins (Ferrell), a professional golfer attempting to launch a late-career comeback, just as his grownup son, Lance (Jimmy Tatro), is upstaging him as golf’s latest star.
Since this is a Ferrell character, Lonnie is a narcissistic buffoon who makes his son’s success all about himself.
It’s a story that might need made for an amusing yet forgettable five-minute “Saturday Night Live” sketch. It’s tedious, as a five-hour collection.
The forged is rounded out by other “SNL” alums, like Molly Shannon as Lonnie’s ex spouse, and Chris Parnell as a golf govt. Both make valiant efforts to salvage the show, but their elements are too small. Luke Wilson also exhibits up as a rival golfer.
Will Ferrell in “The Hawk.” Getty Images for Netflix
Molly Shannon and Will Ferrell in “The Hawk.” Netflix via AP
In a grim – and doubtless unintentional – case of the show getting meta, Lonnie is a character whose best days are behind him. “The Hawk” makes you marvel if the same could be said of Ferrell.
At the very least, it’s apparent that his abilities are best for a film, not stretched across a ten-episode collection. “The Hawk” is painfully unfunny, and borders on mean-spirited (such as a sequence where Lonnie is so self-absorbed that he doesn’t care about a buddy’s death).
Not every sports activities show wants to be “Ted Lasso” ranges of ooey-gooey sweetness. But, “The Hawk” isn’t sharp enough to be a good imply comedy (like “Derry Girls,” or “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”).
It tries to attain for the goofy humor of Ferrell’s heyday – but it undermines itself with that streak of nastiness, and an undercooked story.
Will Ferrell and Christina Applegate in 2004’s “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.”
Will Ferrell and Jon Heder in 2007’s “Blades of Glory.” ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Coll
The former “SNL” star peaked in the early ‘oughts, with his hilarious flicks like “Elf,” “Step Brothers,” “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” and “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.”
At the time, his principally millennial viewers was tweens. Now, they’re adults with marriages and mortgages. “The Hawk” feels prefer it was made for center schoolers, twenty years in the past.
Ferrell’s shtick hasn’t grown up along with them (not like Ben Stiller, who advanced from that period’s Ferrell-esque motion pictures like “Dodgeball,” to stylish exhibits like “Severance,” in current years).
Jimmy Tatro in “The Hawk.” Netflix via AP
Will Ferrell and Christina Applegate in “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.”
There can be nothing mistaken with Ferrell sticking to acquainted territory, if “The Hawk” was a laugh-riot. But, it forgets key ingredients that made his motion pictures work.
His “Anchorman” character, Ron Burgundy, was also a blowhard. It wasn’t an excessive amount of, because the film balanced him with a selection of personalities in its ensemble forged. Plus, the jokes had been funnier.
In “The Hawk,” there are under-used facet characters, and Lonnie’s son, Lance, will get the secondary plot. But he doesn’t hit enough different notes as a character to stop Lonnie’s narcissism from getting outdated, fast.
Jimmy Tatro, Will Ferrell, and Luke Wilson in “The Hawk.” ©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection
Jimmy Tatro at “The Hawk” premiere at Westwood Regency Village Theater in LA on July 9, 2026. Getty Images for Netflix
Another obvious issue is that Ferrell’s film characters had arcs. Even Ron Burgundy skilled a sliver of growth (from being sexist in direction of feminine colleagues to respecting them…in his own method).
Lonnie has no arc. He learns nothing, and undergoes no change. He goes in circles for a punishingly long ten episodes, like a teen who stole a golf cart with no plan to where to drive it.
Most of the show consists of Ferrell trotting out his “greatest hits” antics: randomly dancing in a thong, yelling at inappropriate moments, inflicting a scene at a social gathering. You may benefit from the show if you want watching him do that stuff, and you don’t need connective tissue in the story or character.
Will Ferrell in “The Hawk.” ©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection
Will Ferrell at “The Hawk” premiere at Westwood Regency Village Theater in LA on July 9, 2026. Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency / BACKGRID
Been there, executed that. He performed comparable boorish pro-athletes in “Talladega Nights” and “Blades of Glory.” He doesn’t do something in “The Hawk” that he didn’t already do better, twenty years in the past.
Watching “The Hawk” makes you suppose of all the flicks and exhibits that used comparable materials in more attention-grabbing methods. Ferrell’s own oeuvre is littered with superior sports activities comedies. “Happy Gilmore” already did the “bad boy of golf” story. This doesn’t add to the idea.
In the current TV comedy panorama, “Widow’s Bay” was packed with silliness, and it was contemporary where “The Hawk” is stale.
Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) in “Hacks” was also self-involved, but it labored because the HBO show had stronger writing.
NBC’s “The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins” is another current comedy about a pro-athlete attempting to launch a comeback, performed by an “SNL” alum (Tracy Morgan). If you’re hungry for this plot, that’s a a lot funnier watch.
Just like its lead character, “The Hawk” doesn’t appear to understand that it arrived at least a decade too late, performing for an viewers that outgrew it.
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