I am going to recommend, nay demand, a strategy for any potential viewer of Between Two Ferns: The Movie, and this goes double for any person who has never seen its predecessor “Between Two Ferns:” fastforward to the end and watch the outtakes first. I’m not kidding.
Normally, of course, I’d find such a strategy stupid and worthless. Heck. I rarely watch outtakes under any circumstances. Some spoil the movie for me. The opposite is true of Between Two Ferns, and you have to know why. Between Two Ferns is a talk show run by Zach Galifianakis as Zach Galifianakis as a lethargic wrecking ball. The film’s idea of humor is Zach hiding behind a pre-written page of gotcha questions, all hit-and-run queries. The camera rarely allows for an answer.
Zach’s amateur-ish interview style follows a predictable pattern: he often stumbles over the name of a celebrity – Benedict Cumberbatch and Matthew McConaughey gave him special trouble – and then dives in mumbling rhetorical question after rhetorical question aimed at illuminating a celebrity’s mediocrity. Rarely does Zach wait for an answer and he barely acknowledges a reaction. For Brie Larson, he serves up, “I hear you are a very private person, what was your first period like?” For Keanu Reeves, he blustered through, “On a scale of 1 to 100, how many words do you know? 20? 75?” Each question is specifically designed to leave the interviewee either dumbfounded or pissed off. The interviews are (generally) both painful and hilarious.
Back to paragraph one, in the outtakes, we see the real celebrity – the Cumberbatch, McConaughey or Tiffany Haddish who laughs at the question and celebrates their own undeniable imperfection. It’s the self-deprecating that the meat of the film ignores; between the credits, almost every celebrity comes off as ruffled and perturbed as if unimpressed with Zach and wondering why they bothered appearing on his talk show. This can come off as elitist. If you watch everything BUT the credits, you’d get the idea that David Letterman doesn’t like being called “Emaciated Santa Claus” whereas you know the real Letterman would find that pretty funny. Hence, if you don’t want to have negative opinions about some of your fav celebs, watch the end credits first.
After Zach almost LITERALLY drowns Matthew McConaughey, he has to take the “Two Ferns” show on the road. Will Ferrell and “Funny or Die” have promised “unknown” Zach a big time talk show if he can complete the task of getting 10 full tapes of awkward interviews by the next full moon or whatever. So Zach and crew undertake a scorched earth policy roadtrip on their way to El Lay. It’s better if you think of this show as a 21st Century Muppet Movie. Zach is Kermit, but a socially dysfunctional version; instead of friendly and inquisitive, he’s acerbic and aloof. His big time Hollywood dreams drive his character and propel him to have adventures and embarrass celebrities all over the United States. He attracts idiocy and tension as any celeb with a camera might, but he never stops being that weird self-involved loner.
I’ve never really enjoyed Zach Galifianikis before. Watching him stumble over his own name after butchering “Cumberbatch” didn’t bring me any closer to a revelation of understanding and joy. However, I finally now understand his artistic strategy. I’m sure his persona is a hero to those who love to take celebrities down a notch or two. Understanding that there’s no ill-will involved despite appearances was very important for me. To enjoy our host, I have to know Zach isn’t a jealous buffoon. And when I got there, I found myself enjoying this film. Not a lot, but enough.
There once was a host named Zach
Whose interviews became an attack
He had positive polls
From internet trolls
But his guests didn’t want to come back
Rated TV-MA, 82 Minutes
Director: Scott Aukerman
Writer: Scott Aukerman
Genre: Making fun of everything
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Those aligned with dark forces
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Those aligned with people magazine
