Critic Reviews
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Sure, its plot is beyond far-fetched (I do not think agents in the field halt their operations to take calls from their clueless fiancés), but the various prison breaks and assorted capers are sharply edited together and clever. Alongside that, the comedy works, too, largely due to the terrific supporting cast.
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Between Arnold’s funny lines, the fun supporting cast and the well-thought-out family dynamic, FUBAR delivers a fun first episode that moves quickly and keeps you on the edge of your seat.
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Schwarzenegger shows the viewer that he is chiefly a comedian. Hence Twins with Danny DeVito, Kindergarten Cop and now this.
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Netflix’s FUBAR is a comical spy-adventure series that entertains despite the repetitive nature of its premise and lackluster action sequences.
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There's nothing offensively terrible about FUBAR; it just needed its story to be much more focused than what it ended up being. However, even at its weakest moments, it has heart, and Schwarzenegger and Barbaro make for a great leading duo.
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If you’re a fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger; you’re going to love FUBAR. If you’re not, then it won’t do a damn thing to change your mind.
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He has more or less joined a mediocre Arnold Schwarzenegger cover band that can’t quite stay on key, but it’s hard not to occasionally smile at seeing him still trying to play the hits at his age.
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Schwarzenegger isn’t, shall we say, the most subtle of comedy performers. But he’s having a whale of a time and, if you’re a fan of action comedies, so will you.
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Schwarzenegger’s enthusiasm has an electric effect on what would otherwise be a moribund action-thriller.
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For those hoping for a show that prioritizes covert ops over dad puns, “FUBAR” isn’t that. If, on the other hand, you’re the “hi hungry, I’m dad” type, then prepare to embrace Schwarzenegger’s fatherly goofball period as eagerly as he has.
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With improved writing and better comedic timing, this easygoing bit of action fluff would have succeeded better.
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Erected on a framework of spy film tropes, or cliches, if you like, or homages, if you prefer, predictable in a good way or predictable in a bad way depending on how much or little one likes to be surprised, “FUBAR” is willfully ridiculous, but it also wants to be kind of real and even meaningful about family and what really matters in life.
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Marking the star’s series debut, it’s a slim idea stretched over eight parts (and possibly more), and with apologies to its military acronym, feels fouled up in mostly recognizable ways.
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Arnold fans may find a lot of fun in the nostalgia soup of FUBAR, a show that does its level best to go down easy and throw a few member berries into our mouths. But at eight punishing hours, all of them stuffed with lukewarm melodrama and tepid, repetitive jokes, FUBAR may make you want to go AWOL from your Netflix subscription.
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There are just enough moments of B-movie action thrills in the season’s best episodes to keep people watching, but this is the definition of Netflix’s “Watch While You Use Your Phone” television—maybe you won’t notice its lack of new ideas or willingness to repeat the same lame bits over and over again.
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While “FUBAR” gets the ‘80s superstar back in the saddle, it should have been attached to a different horse – one that hadn’t already been put out to pasture. This takes too much time to get up to speed.
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The cast really tries to deliver, but they can’t escape the consistently poor material that’s just so out of date, boring, and predictable that they simply don’t stand a chance.
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But, even at only eight episodes long, the series starts to dip and wane in multiple places - meaning it may take longer than expected to actually make your way through to the end, and likely for minimal reward.
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Arnie’s first live-action TV series looks to ape True Lies but lands closer to Jingle All The Way — if Jingle All The Way was eight hours long. A genuine slog to get through.
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It’s occasionally fun, though it’s much more frequently just “not boring,” which I confess I’ll gladly settle for.
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“FUBAR” is a violent, virtually laugh-free disaster filled with cheap sexual humor, standard-issue action sequences and paper-thin characters. Get to the chopper and flee this one instantly.
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Strip back the worst parts of "Fubar" and all you'll find are more bad parts.
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The whole series feels like Netflix fed Arnold’s old action movies into ChatGPT and filmed whatever came out, unedited.
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Schwarzenegger is fine. .... He’s familiar, and it’s nice to see him — at least to the extent that it’s nice to see anybody in a fairly awful TV show.
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By its third episode, FUBAR is already skipping like a horribly scratched record, having its two leads rehash their bedrock gripes to brain-numbingly unrewarding ends. .... There’s plenty of action in FUBAR, but it’s of an amateurish sort, and lowlighted by the show’s directors shooting and cutting around the fact that the 75-year-old Schwarzenegger doesn’t move like he used to—or, for that matter, much at all. .... Without Schwarzenegger’s participation, FUBAR wouldn’t exist.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 10 out of 29
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Mixed: 10 out of 29
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Negative: 9 out of 29
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May 26, 2023This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view.
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Jun 2, 2023This show is good fun. Great casting and solid budget. Production values and writing were outstanding. I hope they make more seasons.
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May 28, 2023