Between Two Ferns: The Movie | |
---|---|
Directed by | Scott Aukerman |
Screenplay by | Scott Aukerman |
Story by | Zach Galifianakis Scott Aukerman |
Based on | |
Produced by | Caitlin Daley Mike Farah Scott Aukerman Zach Galifianakis |
Starring |
|
Cinematography | Benjamin Kasulke |
Edited by | Brendan Walsh Hank Friedmann |
Music by | Alex Wurman |
Production companies | Funny or Die Billios Productions |
Distributed by | Netflix |
Release date |
|
Running time | 83 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Between Two Ferns: The Movie is a 2019 American comedy film directed by Scott Aukerman and starring Zach Galifianakis that acts as a spin-off of the web series of the same name. The film was released on September 20, 2019, on Netflix. [1] [2]
Zach Galifianakis is the host of his public access TV show Between Two Ferns. After Will Ferrell discovered the show and uploaded it to Funny or Die, Zach has become a viral laughing stock, attracting millions of views every day due to his poor direction. During an interview with Matthew McConaughey, Zach accidentally sets off a sprinkler system and causes a water leak which floods the room, drowning Matthew, although he is later resuscitated.
The incident attracts more views than ever, resulting in Will offering Zach to turn ten episodes in two weeks and become president of Funny or Die; Zach, dreaming of having his own talk show, accepts and starts a road trip. While the road trip is successful; Zach bonds with his crew and even though the interviews with guests David Letterman, Paul Rudd, Chrissy Teigen (with whom he has an affair after trying to interview her because Jake Gyllenhaal missed his flight as he misspelled his name on his ticket), John Legend (who sprays him with mace because of the affair), Jon Hamm, Hailee Steinfeld, Awkwafina, Tiffany Haddish, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Tessa Thompson are successful, Zach becomes short of money due to expensive activities. This causes Zach's manager, Carol (Lauren Lapkus) to steal Fabergé eggs from Peter Dinklage during his interview to sell them and buy their return to Los Angeles.
On their way back, Zach gets into an accident by reading emails while driving, destroying his two beloved ferns. Despite antagonizing his crew, they reconcile and go back to Los Angeles and win the deal. Learning he will get four new ferns, Zach celebrates and starts his new show, Ferns with Zach Galifianakis, and within a month becomes a national success. However, his crew criticizes its lack of charm and personality causing Zach to cancel his talk show and leave with his crew, not before two of his new ferns get destroyed by a car.
On May 23, 2019, Funny or Die announced that it would make a film version of Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis for Netflix. The film was directed by Scott Aukerman, the co-creator of the original series, and produced by Aukerman, Galifianakis, Caitlin Daley and Mike Farah. [1] [2] On June 17, 2019, it was reported that Ryan Gaul, Lauren Lapkus, and Jiavani Linayao were part of the cast alongside Galifianakis. [3]
Several ideas for Between Two Ferns: The Movie that Galifianakis came up with and subsequently discarded early in development were used on his show Baskets . [4]
Aukerman cited several other mockumentary films as inspiration, including This Is Spinal Tap , Borat , and Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping . [4]
On September 3, 2019, the first trailer for the movie was released. [5]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 75% based on 60 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Between Two Ferns: The Movie shows the strain of stretching a series of web shorts to feature length, but should still satisfy fans of the source material." [6] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 59 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [7]
Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com gave the film 3 1/2 out of 4 stars, saying that it "takes what's made the series so extremely funny and lovingly expands it into a feature film, in a way that would make all those ‘90s Saturday Night Live movies envious." [8] Writing for The A.V. Club , William Hughes gave the film a B, praising its humor but with the slightly muted criticism that "some of the original, exciting venom of the show’s appeal ends up a bit diluted along the way". [9]
Scott Aukerman, Zach Galifianakis, Mike Farah, Caitlin Daley and Corinne Eckart were nominated for a 2020 Primetime Emmy Award in the category Outstanding Short Form Variety Series for Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: The Movie, Sorta Uncut Interviews, consisting of uncut interviews from the film featuring David Letterman, Paul Rudd, Awkwafina, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brie Larson, Keanu Reeves, Hailee Steinfeld, and Adam Scott released on the Netflix Is A Joke YouTube channel and FunnyOrDie.com. [10] [11]
Zachary Knight Galifianakis is an American comedian and actor. He is known for his role as Alan in The Hangover trilogy (2009–2013). On television, he starred in the FX series Baskets (2016–2019), which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2017. He also hosted the Funny or Die talk show Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis (2008–2018).
Emmanuel Lewis is a retired American actor, best known for playing the title character in the 1980s television sitcom Webster.
Scott David Aukerman is an American writer, actor, comedian, television personality, director, producer, and podcast host. Starting as a writer and performer in the later seasons of the sketch series Mr. Show, Aukerman is best known as the host of the weekly comedy podcast Comedy Bang! Bang! as well as the IFC original television series of the same name. Aukerman is the co-creator of Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis and co-founder of the Earwolf podcast network.
B. J. Porter is an American actor, writer and comedian. Porter began his career writing and performing on the HBO sketch comedy program, Mr. Show. Porter, along with the rest of the Mr. Show writing staff, was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1999. Porter won an Emmy in 2014 and 2015 for the Funny or Die series Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis, which he co-created. Between Two Ferns was also nominated for an Emmy in 2013.
Funny or Die, Inc. is a comedy video website and production company owned by Henry R. Muñoz III that was founded by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Mark Kvamme, and Chris Henchy in 2007. The website contained exclusive material from a regular staff of in-house writers, producers and directors, and occasionally from a number of famous contributors including Judd Apatow, James Franco and Norm Macdonald. The associated production company continues to make TV shows including truTV's Billy on the Street, Comedy Central's @midnight and Zach Galifianakis' web series Between Two Ferns.
Hailee Steinfeld is an American actress and singer. She had her breakthrough with the western film True Grit (2010), which earned her various accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award.
Comedy Bang! Bang! is a weekly comedy audio podcast, which originally began airing as a radio show on May 1, 2009. Popularly known as Humanity and the Animal Kingdom's Podcast, it is hosted by writer and comedian Scott Aukerman, best known for his work on the 1990s HBO sketch comedy program Mr. Show with Bob and David, creating and hosting the Comedy Bang! Bang! TV series, and co-founding the weekly Comedy Death-Ray stage show at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Hollywood.
It's Kind of a Funny Story is a 2010 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, an adaptation of Ned Vizzini's 2006 novel of the same name. The film stars Keir Gilchrist, Zach Galifianakis, Emma Roberts, and Viola Davis. It was released in the United States on October 8, 2010, and received generally mixed reviews.
Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis is an American talk show hosted by comedian Zach Galifianakis which features celebrity guests. Episodes last several minutes, in which the interviewer (Galifianakis) and guests trade barbs and insults. In addition to the online series, there is a Comedy Central television special, and a Netflix original movie Between Two Ferns: The Movie.
Earwolf is an American comedy podcasting network founded by Scott Aukerman and Jeff Ullrich in August 2010. In 2011, they announced a partnership with Funny Or Die. It merged with podcast advertising network The Mid Roll in 2014, a separate company founded by Ullrich, to form Midroll Media. Midroll was acquired by the E. W. Scripps Company in 2015. In July 2020, Sirius XM acquired Midroll Media, which includes Stitcher Radio and Earwolf, for $325 million.
Romeo & Juliet is a 2013 film adaptation of William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy. Written by Julian Fellowes and directed by Carlo Carlei, it stars Douglas Booth, Hailee Steinfeld, Damian Lewis, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Ed Westwick, Stellan Skarsgård and Paul Giamatti. The film opened in the United Kingdom and the United States on 11 October 2013. While remaining faithful to the original plot, it uses only some of the dialogue written by Shakespeare. This has led to several critics denouncing the film on the grounds that it loses the essence of the play. The film grossed $3 million.
Comedy Bang! Bang! is a television talk show created and hosted by Scott Aukerman. The show aired weekly on IFC and was a spin-off of Aukerman's podcast Comedy Bang! Bang!, which airs on the Earwolf network. Like the podcast, the series featured outlandish and farcical humor, often delivered in a deadpan manner. The mock talk show derived most of its comedy from its surreal spoofs of common late night tropes and from its characters' ineptitude.
Sarah Baker is an American actress and comedian, best known for roles in movies such as The Campaign and Mascots, and TV shows like The Kominsky Method and Louie.
The Keeping Room is a 2014 American Western film directed by Daniel Barber and written by Julia Hart. The film stars Brit Marling, Hailee Steinfeld, Muna Otaru, Sam Worthington, Amy Nuttall, and Ned Dennehy. It was screened in the Special Presentations section of the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was given a limited release in the United States on September 25, 2015, by Drafthouse Films. The film was made available on Netflix US on May 4, 2016.
Dorthea Lauren Allegra Lapkus is an American actress and comedian, known for portraying Susan Fischer in the Netflix comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black and Jess in the HBO comedy-drama series Crashing (2017–2019). She has also appeared in the television series Are You There, Chelsea? (2012), Hot in Cleveland (2012), Clipped (2015), The Big Bang Theory (2018–2019), and Good Girls (2020–2021) and in the films Jurassic World (2015), The Unicorn (2018), and The Wrong Missy (2020). She played the voice role of Lotta in the animated comedy series Harvey Girls Forever! (2018–2020).
Off Camera is an American interview-based television series, magazine and podcast. It was created by photographer and director Sam Jones, who is also the host. Off Camera airs on DirecTV's Audience channel 239, with a twelfth season as of August 19, 2019.
Paul Rudd is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. His career began in 1992 when he played a recurring role in the television series Sisters until 1995. In 1995, he made his film debut opposite Alicia Silverstone in the cult film Clueless, and starred as Tommy Doyle in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. The following year, he played Dave Paris in Baz Luhrmann's romantic drama Romeo + Juliet. He co-starred in the ensemble comedy film Wet Hot American Summer (2001), and had further comedic roles in Role Models (2008) with Seann William Scott and I Love You, Man (2009) with Jason Segel.
The Wrong Missy is a 2020 American romantic black comedy film directed by Tyler Spindel which was produced by Happy Madison Productions. With a screenplay by Chris Pappas and Kevin Barnett, the film stars David Spade as a recently single businessman who accidentally invites a woman with whom he had a horrible first date to a corporate retreat after a case of mistaken identity.
The Earliest Show is an American comedy web series starring Ben Schwartz and Lauren Lapkus. Produced by Funny or Die, the series was sponsored by Cap'n Crunch cereal as a form of branded content. It follows morning show co-hosts Josh Bath and Sam Newman who must deal with the aftermath of Josh's failed on-air wedding proposal. The show is largely improvised. The Earliest Show premiered on October 27, 2016 and consisted of six episodes.