The Brink
HBO | Release Date: June 21, 2015
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
13
Negative:
7
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The Lincoln Journal StarJeff KorbelikJun 22, 2015
Season 1 Review: The Brink is whip-smart, featuring actors who know how to play comedy. This one’s a joy to watch. Read full review
91
Uncle BarkyEd BarkJun 19, 2015
Season 1 Review: An explosively funny satirical descendant that can hit home without being even slightly preachy about it. Mostly, though, have fun with both the madcap characters and the notion that one of the Pakistani demands in play is a full membership with the Augusta National Golf Club. Read full review
80
The WrapDiane GordonJun 22, 2015
Season 1 Review: The dialogue is smart, biting and sporadically funny as it convincingly argues that its strange fiction is truth and turns the wartime stuff of our nightmares into the blackest of comedy. Read full review
80
Boston GlobeMatthew GilbertJun 18, 2015
Season 1 Review: Consistently entertaining, if not hysterical, and plotted with care, so that three distinct story lines dovetail nicely. Read full review
75
Reason.comGlenn GarvinJun 19, 2015
Season 1 Review: The manic Brink can be exhausting and overbroad, but it also has moments that are acutely, if childishly, funny. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubErik AdamsJun 18, 2015
Season 1 Review: There’s smart plotting at work, and keen observational skills when it comes to showing who’s truly in power, but it takes a squishy stance on the issues at hand, a “nuclear warfare bad” perspective that makes for agreeable comedy but ineffectual satire. Read full review
75
USA TodayRobert BiancoJun 18, 2015
Season 1 Review: The show may err toward silliness, but the cast is uniformly good, and every so often a wry jab at American parochialism or some funny throwaway line will catch you by happy surprise. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandJun 17, 2015
Season 1 Review: Much of it works very well because of the casting and, to some extent, character direction. The pacing is a bit flaccid here and there, but most of the jokes are worth waiting an extra beat for. Read full review
70
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen GrayJun 18, 2015
Season 1 Review: The humor's not nearly as pointed as it is in Veep, but if you like Jack Black being Jack Black, you should like him here, too. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyMelissa MaerzJun 30, 2015
Season 1 Review: Black spends too much time hugging with his eyebrows raised, and the writers go for easy jokes. [3 Jul 2015]
60
Los Angeles TimesRobert LloydJul 5, 2015
Season 1 Review: The series keeps generally on the right side of things by virtue of the excellence and exuberance of the performances, which add flesh where needed; by moving fast enough to keep ahead of your second thoughts; and by spreading the ridiculousness around. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleyJun 22, 2015
Season 1 Review: Some of the comedy borders on dark slapstick. Some favors absurdity. Read full review
60
The New York TimesAlessandra StanleyJun 19, 2015
Season 1 Review: The series finds its comic stride in the fifth episode and becomes kind of fun. But that’s a long wait, and it’s easy to be discouraged by the way it starts. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerMolly EichelJun 22, 2015
Season 1 Review: It has its moments of comedy that land, but the entire show, which is going for a Dr. Strangelove vibe, feels off. As political satire, it lacks the bite needed to really work. Read full review
50
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob OwenJun 22, 2015
Season 1 Review: The Brink is just silliness. It takes a while to get used to that, but this broad humor may win over some viewers. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchGail PenningtonJun 17, 2015
Season 1 Review: “Ballers” and “The Brink,” have their moments, neither provides a lot of laughs. Read full review
42
Newark Star-LedgerVicki HymanJun 22, 2015
Season 1 Review: It tries to deliver a biting geopolitical satire about unconventional warfare with weapons that are depressingly conventional. Read full review
42
HitfixDaniel FienbergJun 22, 2015
Season 1 Review: Many of the erratic and seemingly random acting choices fall on inconsistent written characterizations, many fall on stars too big to be wholly steered and many have to be placed on the "Brink" directors. Read full review
40
Yahoo TVKen TuckerJun 19, 2015
Season 1 Review: [The Brink] uses Black’s panicky jabber-talk style to set the pace for a frantic show that only occasionally slows down enough to be actually funny. Read full review
40
Vox.comEmily VanDerWerffJun 19, 2015
Season 1 Review: The Brink's level of satire never really goes beyond "the most obvious jokes you can think of about every possible group of people on the planet," and its political messages essentially boil down to the idea that the end of humanity wouldn't be that cool. Read full review
40
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoJun 18, 2015
Season 1 Review: It’s a depressing waste of talent, although having so many talented people involved at least keeps The Brink watchable. It’s the writing that fails them. Read full review
40
VarietyBrian LowryJun 18, 2015
Season 1 Review: The show operates at a tone of constant hysteria, which, as justified as that may be, begins to feel exhausting. Read full review
40
Washington PostHank StueverJun 17, 2015
Season 1 Review: The Brink is a little too stale and disorganized to act as the “Veep” of foreign diplomacy, but it does provoke a chuckle here and there. Read full review
30
New York Magazine (Vulture)Matt Zoller SeitzJun 22, 2015
Season 1 Review: It’s been a while since I’ve seen so much acting, writing, and directing talent, and such top-notch production values, expended on behalf of a show that makes such a weak impression. Read full review
30
The OregonianKristi TurnquistJun 19, 2015
Season 1 Review: Unfortunately, The Brink feels like a would-be daring political comedy that's lacking in insight and light on laughs. Read full review
30
TimeJames PoniewozikJun 19, 2015
Season 1 Review: The Brink is far more likely to trigger a hasty finger on your TV remote. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterKeith UhlichJun 9, 2015
Season 1 Review: The Brink aims to poke fun at world diplomacy by insisting that almost everyone at the highest levels of power is a fool focused on their basest desires. In the right hands it could be as provocative as the Kubrick film it emulates. But as it stands it would barely pass muster as a back-half sketch on SNL. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineChris CabinJun 22, 2015
Season 1 Review: The Brink has no backbone, which happens to be the one thing that satire requires. Read full review
25
NewsdayVerne GayJun 19, 2015
Season 1 Review: The Brink is a grim would-be comedy grindhouse full of half-baked one-liners propping up an overbaked plot. Read full review
10
SalonSonia SaraiyaJun 22, 2015
Season 1 Review: It’s screechingly awful. Read full review
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