with A-list names from Natalie Portman to Sean Penn.. and even Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton joining in on the fun, the "Funny or Die" online series was a brilliant exercise in tightrope-walking improv and was must-watch television
the whole movie -- a bit of concocted fluff that never asks to be taken on the level, and that allows Galifianakis to oscillate, with his stoic myopic cunning, between idiocy and ire
the guests usually hold it together better than Zach Galifianakis, which is more of a revelation than one would have expected from a project that's essentially a goof-off, albeit an oftentimes hilarious one
everyone turning Funny or Die's short web series into a feature-length movie knows it's an empty gimmick, but all that winking isn't really enough to save it
a ramshackle cameo comedy; Zach Galifianakis's abrasive celebrity talkshow gets transformed into a featherweight, intermittently funny, full-length feature for Netflix
"The Between Two Ferns" movie is funny, but a little defanged; The jokes are still perfectly crafted and savvily delivered, but a lot of the subversive thrill is gone
by Richard Roeper [Chicago Sun-Times ]
by Benjamin Lee [The Guardian ]
