Between Two Ferns: The Movie (2019) Review

"How good does it feel to sell out?"
-Zach Galifianakis



While filming an interview with Matthew McConaughey for his show Between Two Ferns, Zach Galifianakis accidentally floods the studio and nearly drowns McConaughey.  To meet his contractual obligations and to achieve his dream of being a network talk show host, Zach has to take his show on the road and film ten episodes in two weeks or face the wrath of Will Ferrell.


What Works:

I love Between Two Ferns and I think this movie does the show justice.  We get plenty of fantastic interviews and hilariously-awkward moments.  This movie really captures the spirit of the show and that's all we could ask for.

Zach Galifianakis is amazing and I don't know how he manages to film these interviews with a straight face.  He's so funny and says the most absurd things.  How the crew was able to keep it together while filming this, I'll never know.

I like that they decided to film this movie mockumentary-style.  It definitely reminded me of The Office at points and this style works for the type of story this is.  I love getting the thoughts of Zach and the various crew members and it gives us some really funny moments.

Finally, the best of the interviews is definitely Paul Rudd's.  He's brilliant and plays off of Galifianakis extremely well.  I only wish it had gone on longer.


What Sucks:

Not all of the jokes work.  There's a few clunkers outside of the interviews, plus the Hailee Steinfeld interview didn't give us anything good.

The biggest problem of the movie is all of the interviews would probably have been funnier as their own episodes rather than part of a movie.  Galifianakis doesn't get enough time to go far enough in the majority of them.  While I liked the movie format, I can't help but think it wasted some of these interviews.


Verdict:

Between Two Ferns: The Movie captures the spirit of the show with plenty of hilarious moments, an interesting style, and some fantastic interviews.  I do think the sum of its parts may be greater than the whole and some of the jokes don't land, but this movie has definitely got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good 

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