FUBAR

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.

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.

Schwarzenegger’s enthusiasm has an electric effect on what would otherwise be a moribund action-thriller.

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.

With improved writing and better comedic timing, this easygoing bit of action fluff would have succeeded better.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The cast really tries to deliver, but they can’t escape the consistently poor material that’s just so out of date, boring, and predictable that they simply don’t stand a chance.

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.

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.