| October 16, 2019 | Jill Bold | managing editor |
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With a gut-busting blooper reel during the credits, it’s worth watching all 80 minutes of “Between Two Ferns: The Movie” starring Zach Galifianakis.
The movie comprised enough of the original format to keep viewers laughing or at least snickering through some of the better interviews and concluded with that gold at the end of the rainbow: the blooper reel.
Each interviewee featured in this film appeared during the closing credits, with several outtakes of celebrities breaking character and losing their minds at the absurd questions asked of them. Galifianakis’ interview with Benedict Cumberbatch, whose name no one can pronounce, provided the perfect blooper footage for the closing credits.
Perpetually unaware of his awkwardness and terrible interview questions, Galifianakis employed his usual schtick, dragging his film crew across the country from North Carolina to California to try to earn a chance to host the nightly talk show of his dreams, produced by evil boss Will Ferrell, who plays himself as the founder of Funnyordie.com. To earn his show, Galifianakis must submit 10 interviews to Ferrell within two weeks time to Ferrell’s Los Angeles office.
The only way for this movie to string together these celebrity interviews is to bind them with an intentionally corny plot: the overused friends-bonding-on-a-roadtrip storyline. Viewers hoping for longer interviews may be disappointed, but fans of the “Between Two Ferns” web series will likely tolerate the weak plotline’s attempt to string together the movie’s series of laugh-out-loud interviews.
The absurdity bleeds into the storyline when a despondent Galifianakis approaches Chrissy Teigen at a bar and is seduced by the surprisingly eager former supermodel and “Between Two Ferns” fan.
The star power in this flick is impressive. Some of the best interviewees, including Keanu Reeves, Jon Hamm, Chance the Rapper and many more made these bumbling encounters entertaining.
One of Galifianakis’ final interviews during the cross-country trip played out at Peter Dinklage’s home. Running out of funds to pay for the trip leads to desperate measures for the film crew, they decide to rob Dinklage after eyeing his collection of a dozen Fabergé eggs in a giant egg carton.
The interludes between interviews where Galifianakis and his crew engage in the actual roadtrip portion of this movie are cliché-filled and hard to watch at times. It tries to be feel-good and comes off as a bit too fake, but those instances are rare enough to not detract from the film.
