Karl Puschmann: The Hawk and Lucky

The Hawk  

On the back nine of his career, golf legend Lonnie "The Hawk" Hawkins chases one final major — and drags everyone he loves into the chaos (Netflix). 

Lucky 

When a multi-million-dollar heist goes sideways, con artist Lucky is forced to go on the run. Pursued by both the FBI and a ruthless crime boss, Lucky must fight for her life—and a way out (Apple TV). 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks at.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Be time to catch up with Carl Pushman for this
week's screen Time Picks out of Carl Jack. Hello, we
have two shows this morning. The first one is streaming
on Netflix starring one of my all time favorites, Will Ferrell.
So tell us about the Hawk.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Yes, the genteel game of golf once again finds itself
at the heart of another sports comedy, Will Ferrell ruining
a nice walk as a washed up pro golfer teeing
up for one last shot at glory like yourself, Jack,
I was really hyped for this. I've been rooting for
Will Ferrell to make his comeback. He hasn't had a
comedy hit for a little while now. He's been putting

(00:48):
stuff out, but they haven't quite landed. And I thought
this had all the ingredients to to really bring him back. Oh,
how do we put this? Maybe that's all I need
to say is, yeah, that's it's He plays Lunny Hawkins,
the up pro golfer, and it's a little bit of
art imitating Life's sad to say, Lonnie Hawkins feels like

(01:12):
a bit of a mash up of his previous characters,
but doesn't quite get his own personality. He's that, you know,
the fool who's full of bravado and arrogant. But yeah,
there's not much more to him than that. Where you know,
ron Bergundy and Command the Classic had that charisma about him,
and Lonny Hawkins just does doesn't quite land. He sort

(01:36):
of seems more, like I said, a mash up or
a collage of Will Ferrell's greatest hits rather than his
own identified, identifiable character. You know, golf is such a
favored target for comedy because its reputation is sort of stuffy,
you old fashioned, and you can populate it with all
sorts of characters, you know, the states back to Ronnie
Dangerfil and Bill Murray's classic Caddy Shack, which really popularized

(01:58):
that snobs versus slobs genre archetype. Then Adam Sandler's Happy
Gilmore of course, and more recently Wilson and Mark Maron's
drama Stick and the Hawk borrows from all three of those,
which is quite interesting. So it has the all Farrell
broad comedy and then a little bit of drama seeps
in as his son is also competing in the pro tour.

(02:20):
So you gets sort of father dad rivalry into redemption
story there, and yeah, all the stuff's in there, but
it just doesn't quite land. It's just too stuck in
the two thousands. Yeah, he leans on his old mannerisms
instead of bringing something new in the pop culture references
of songs like two thousand and five's Right and Dirty,
which gets like an eated dance secrets. So but you

(02:43):
know that said, he has a sem with a hot
shot cast around him, Molly Shannon as his foul mouthed
ex wife, Owen Wilson gets an the golfing action like
his brother and from Stick as the Hawk's main rival,
and you know, even Wilfarrell on a bad day can
still be funny and there are some chuckles to be
had throughout. It just wasn't the hole in one I
was hoping for.

Speaker 4 (03:04):
Yeah, I just think when they hit, they hit so hard. Yes,
when they miss.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
They sort of miss equally hard, don't you think. And
I mean, I I do love with Ferrell. I mean
he could do anything now and I still would be
interested in giving it a crack.

Speaker 4 (03:19):
But yeah, when it doesn't quite land, it's just a
bit of a bit of interesting.

Speaker 3 (03:23):
The interesting thing here is like it was definitely landing
in the rough more often than the green, that's for sure.
But I kept clicking next episode, and it just kept
on kept on rolling with it because there are you know,
each episode, you know Will Ferrell here is going to
get it in the hole. Yeah, every every now and then,
And there are definitely funny chuckles to be had in

(03:44):
the show. So I think if you're a ferral fan,
it's definitely worth a shot. Okay, just don't expect him
to be back.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yeah yeah, yeah, Okay. So that's the Hawk that's on Netflix.
Next up on Apple TV plus, tell us about Lucky Well.

Speaker 3 (03:58):
This is a glossy, star driven crime thriller about a
young connartist forced to go on the run after a
multimillion dollar highs goes wrong. She double Lucky as the
main character. She double crosses the crime boss. Then she
herself is double crossed by her partner and crime boyfriend,
who takes off with all the money, and she sort
of wakes up in the casino sweet that they were
staying and by herself no money and with the crime

(04:22):
bosses goons storming into the place and the FBI swarming in.
So the first episode is largely set in that casino
with her desperately trying to escape, and that sort of
sets the tone for the series, which is very much
a cat and mouse thriller. She's Lucky as constantly in
these inescapable situations scraping out of them, and the fun
is really seeing how she does get out of them,

(04:44):
which sort of stretches believability close to breaking point because
there are so many improbable coincidences or strokes of luck
or just things that happen that gets her out of
these jams. You know, she's constantly getting out of the
frying pan then landing just in another frying pan where
the fires beneath all that, but it's just done so
well that you go with it. You know, it's the

(05:05):
Apple TV plus premium drama here so or premium show.
So there's explosions, it's chases, it's big budget, there's her cunning.
It's extremely those well timed coincidences to get her out
of the jam. So it gets the you know, it
keeps you invested and gets the heart rate pumping, has
the net Titans. It stars on your Taylor Joy as

(05:26):
the league character Lucky, and she really get a compelling
action performance. But the real star is screen legend and
Nette Benning, and she plays the crime boss hunting Lucky,
trying to get her money back, which of course Lucky
doesn't have because of the double crossing, et cetera. So
you know, it's a really fun show. It does try
to get depth in there with the sort of family drama.

(05:47):
Lucky and her jailed con man father have a bit
of a difficult relationship that kind of gets in the
way of the escaping and the thrills and the heist.
In my opinion, that's why I like to see is
all that running around and.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Shout yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a.

Speaker 3 (06:04):
That's a great word for it, because it does get
it does start to feel a little bit silly, like
even though her name is Lucky, be a man of luck.
This person has is incredible. Yeah yeah, but then someone
becomes part of the part of the fun, you know.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
So yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, all right. So that's Lucky.
That's on Apple TV plus The Hawk. The one with
Will Ferrell is on Netflix. You can hear more from
Carl on his substack. Of course, it is screen

Speaker 1 (06:27):
Crack for more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame listen
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