We’re at least a decade past the point where seeing so-called “movie stars” deign to appear on the small screen can be considered a novelty. Heck, we’re coming to the end of a spring where Harrison Ford is starring in multiple TV shows at the same time.
Nonetheless, witnessing former California Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger as Netflix The star of the new action comedy is late to the streaming sceneFuba
. FUBAR
Bottom line is worse than anything.
Broadcast date: Thursday, May (Netflix)actor: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Monica Barbaro , Fortune Femster , Travis Van Winkle, Milan Carter, Aparna Brielle, Jay Baruchel, Andy Buckley, Gabriel Luna
Creator: Nick Santora
Like his Hollywood planet Comrade Sylvester Stallone, currently is revisiting his Oscar and STOP! Or My Mom Will Shoot
salad days on the Paramount+ dime, Schwarzenegger is using his streaming platform as a time machine.
FUBAR is a throwback – if you told me creator Nick Santora had it in his drawer since 25 Since I Believe You – Until the moment Schwarzenegger’s name appears on the subtitles is a Guaranteed, at least, big, silly fun.
As a series, FUBAR
delivery possible 1. those elements.
It’s not big. At no point during the eight episodes of the first season did I think, “Man, I can’t believe they have the budget to do this for TV.” There are fights and explosions and fake international travel, but the bulk of the series is people arguing sitting in offices or on airplanes.
Occasionally it’s funny, though more often it’s just “not boring,” which I admit I’d gladly take. Although the season’s overall storyline is half generic espionage and half from True Lies’s Helicopters, Because Helicopters From True Lies
go, FUBAR a notch or two above CBS’ short 1235491977 True Lies
.
This is absolutely is stupid. FUBAR is a show where half the characters are certified geniuses – if you tell me Santora ) repurposing the failed 5th season pitch for Scorpion here, I’ll believe you – but if no one does some dramatic disagreement Logical thing to kick it off, none of the stories move forward. It’s a series of randomly introduced (and forgotten) character details, repeated punchlines, unintentionally creepy and bizarre theme choices.
Schwarzenegger plays Luke Brenner.To his family, he is the suave owner of an exercise equipment store whose tendency to miss important life events leads him to an affair with Tully (Fabiana U DeNio) — though he remains intact with daughter Emma (Monica Barbaro) and generally forgotten son Oscar (Devon Bostick).
But guess what? Lou Luke is not the suave owner of a gym equipment store! He’s a spy! He’s part of a team of CIA agents that includes Barry (Milan Carter), the guy in the tech van – Luke’s family thinks he works at the gym too – And the more professional agents Alden (Travis Van Winkle, who takes his shirt off a lot) and Roo (Fortune Feimster, who probably rewrote half of her dialogue, but should have written everything). Shocking huh?
But wait. There’s more. Some sort of international incident is brewing involving the leader of a South American separatist group tied to Luke’s past (Gabriel Boro of Luna), it turns out the CIA has an undercover agent in the leader’s camp. The agent is…Emma! The acronym you’re looking for here is “OMG,” not “FUBAR ’. Regardless, Luke and Emma have to learn to work together while realizing that their entire father-daughter relationship is a lie.
Maybe the premise is more shadowy gentlemen. & Mrs. Smith than True Lies
, but Arnold Schwarzenegger is not in gentlemen. & Mrs. Smith
. Either way, there’s hardly a second in FUBAR
that feels unfamiliar, usually from better source material, but sometimes Unfamiliar things work familiarly. If you’ve seen True Lies
lately, it’s nearly impossible to watch with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curti without getting disgusted Scenes with the late Bill Paxton went out. Somehow, decades later, FUBAR through Luke’s evolving relationship with Emma and her relationship with her nerdy fiancé Carter (a skinny Jack) Baruchel)’s sex life, plunged into an almost equally disgusting swamp of Baruchel’s and the more aesthetically pleasing Aldon. Plus, an operation requires Emma to trap a nerd who doesn’t have any single personality trait other than his penchant for spanking. The whole thing was unpleasant, and not funny at all.
FUBAR is rarely funny, that’s what happens when you do an action comedy show What Happens is that it’s run by people who specialize in action — not that the globe-trotting adventures or episodic missions are of great scale or precision. Some of the struggling attempts at humor are just tedious, like the runner who doesn’t understand what “cuckolding” is, while some feel like long-term setups for payoffs that never materialize. The script tries too hard to give the characters caustic kiss lines, and tries even harder to cram quotes into Schwarzenegger’s work—some very straightforward, others oblique enough that they could be coincidental.
For the most part, though, every reference and bit of slang or vernacular feels archaic, like when the characters are waiting for the president to decide on a directive authorizing torture and Roo “jokes” “You’re down on PDD ?” Alden replied, “Yes, you know me.” Even though this might be the most pro-torture TV show I’ve ever seen where the communication wasn’t based on torture humor, I’m already ashamed of the communication, Tom Arnold’s torture parallel thread. In a show that’s all but forgotten, that particular episode is excruciating. Honestly, any plot that only focuses on Luke and Emma’s non-spy family – a random little girl with a previously unmentioned cancer, Oliver’s app, Tully’s new relationship or her sports with running rivals A run-in between two men in an equipment store – both hurt a little one.
FUBAR The side closest to the job is the part where Emma and Luke have to be treated together by Supervised by Dr. Louis Pfeffer of Scott Thompson. Those scenes—if you can ignore how stupid it is for the CIA to entrust a globally sensitive mission to a team where two key members are a bickering father and daughter—you can spot ideas at work, Even, in a class featuring elaborate puppets, recognize hints of something new. Of course, this “fresh” approach will be True Lies by The Sopranos
Creator: Nick Santora
.
. Either way, there’s hardly a second in FUBAR
that feels unfamiliar, usually from better source material, but sometimes Unfamiliar things work familiarly. If you’ve seen True Lies
lately, it’s nearly impossible to watch with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curti without getting disgusted Scenes with the late Bill Paxton went out. Somehow, decades later, FUBAR through Luke’s evolving relationship with Emma and her relationship with her nerdy fiancé Carter (a skinny Jack) Baruchel)’s sex life, plunged into an almost equally disgusting swamp of Baruchel’s and the more aesthetically pleasing Aldon. Plus, an operation requires Emma to trap a nerd who doesn’t have any single personality trait other than his penchant for spanking. The whole thing was unpleasant, and not funny at all.
lately, it’s nearly impossible to watch with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curti without getting disgusted Scenes with the late Bill Paxton went out. Somehow, decades later, FUBAR through Luke’s evolving relationship with Emma and her relationship with her nerdy fiancé Carter (a skinny Jack) Baruchel)’s sex life, plunged into an almost equally disgusting swamp of Baruchel’s and the more aesthetically pleasing Aldon. Plus, an operation requires Emma to trap a nerd who doesn’t have any single personality trait other than his penchant for spanking. The whole thing was unpleasant, and not funny at all.
, but I don’t think I’ve seen that before.
Those scenes, which last long after the event’s plausible point in time, are largely successful in part because – let’s just give credit here – Schwarzenegger And Barbaro was fine. He’s matured into a grizzled but totally Schwarzenegger version of septuagenarian macho–the show thinks -year-old actor is There’s tired resignation, and there’s also some kick-ass believable. He’s more convincing as a retarded father than when a particularly sinister script asks him to say “Galifianakis.” Barbaro inherits some swagger from Top Gun: Maverick, emphasizing her character’s edginess and versatility in the spy game, though she also has the same Baruchel and Van Winkle have negligible chemistry.
I think Feimster, guest stars Adam Pally and Aparna Brielle playing an NSA agent brought into the team for no reason, all made me laugh at least once, but probably not many times. Most importantly, though, this show made me appreciate the difficulty of action comedy, especially the comedy part. These are talented people.
I can see Schwarzenegger and his fans would be drawn to the comforting similarities of many of his better products, and FUBAR No, no matter what the title might suggest, totally f[udded] beyond recognition. In fact, it’s mediocre in every recognized way.
