Review: Will Ferrell's 'The Hawk' tees up silly sophomoric jokes, but that's why we're here

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Set us as preferred “The Hawk,” a 10-episode series premiering Thursday on Netflix, is a golf comedy, a Will Ferrell comedy and, most to the point, a Will Ferrell golf comedy, following in the line of such sports-themed Ferrell films as “Blades of Glory,” “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” and “Semi-Pro,” and, at a stretch, “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.” It has the advantage of concerning a sport the actor loves and plays, making it feel affectionate and informed, even as it creates its own silly world.Ferrell plays Lonnie “The Hawk” Hawkins, whose career cratered in 2010 after he choked on the 18th hole at Pebble Beach, missing a three-foot putt “on the verge of a career Grand Slam.” Now, as his son Lance (Jimmy Tatro) is making a name for himself on the PGA circuit, Lonnie is working on the minor league Korn Ferry Tour, putting on a show with his longtime caddy and friend, Old Henry, played by Keith David, whose departure from the series after only eight minutes is a disappointment to me, as a card-carrying David fan, whenever I get around to printing those cards.But it clears the way for Fortune Feimster’s Sam, who just happens to be fixing her car in a Walmart parking lot where Lonnie has parked his tour bus, to become Lonnie’s caddy.She knows nothing about golf, and can’t catch a golf club on the fly — one of Old Henry’s tricks — but she has the proper sense of fun and some good ideas.Lonnie’s dream is to get back on the PGA tour and claim that elusive grand slam.

(“You are a ball.I am a man,” he says to a golf ball he’s about to tee up.

“Classic redemption story.”) It’s no spoiler to say he’ll make it back to the PGA, because there’s no show without it.Besides Lance, his rival there is the player he lost to in 2010, Golden Fisk, pl...