Bill Hader in Barry. Image courtesy of HBO.
Bill Hader is probably the only guy who could have pulled off the balancing act of Barry, a hit-man turned aspiring actor in Los Angeles. In many ways, the show - created by Hader and Alec Berg - has the DNA of an SNL sketch. It’s absurd, shocking and funny – but they are able to mine it for some depth so even though it never rises to the level of great drama or tragedy, there is something very melancholic about the show’s arc. This is because Hader brings, in addition to being a very talented comedian, something of a whisper of sadness to this and indeed most of his performances.
The idea of a hit-man trying to make it as an actor in a shitty LA acting class is of course a great concept, and this show was almost guaranteed to succeed by filling in the edges with great character actors like Henry Winkler and Stephen Root. The jokes made at the expense of all the idiots trying so hard to make it as actors are really, really great and obviously could only come from people who are steeped in the insidious ways of Hollywood.
Do I buy Hader as an unstoppable killing machine? Not really. But the absurd fun of the whole concept is part of its charm. Any show that can effortlessly balance whip-smart jokes that send up the soul-sucking ladder-climbing nihilism of the Hollywood dream factory with scenes of brutal stylized violence and warehouses full of gangsters being gunned down has pulled off a pretty delicate high-wire act if you ask me. Worth the price of admission.
