User Reviews

When I first read the description of Barry, I immediately dismissed the show as being either too high concept or too gimmicky to be fun. I was wrong. Not only is this show a total hidden gem, but it contains some of the funniest and most morally complex characters on TV.

From the start, Barry gets almost everything right. The writing is caustic and funny, always delivered with both heartfelt sincerity and a darkly funny edge (you have to look no further than the character of Noho Hank to see where the soul of the show lies). The violence is frequently punchy and always well done, sometimes quite shocking in it's unexpectedness. The performances across the board are stellar, especially from Winkler, Hader, Carrigan and Root, who all play extremely eccentric men who's goals come at odds.

All that being said, I think it's imperative for more people to watch this show. This is "peak TV". Like Breaking Bad and The Sopranos, Barry portrays a conflicted character with depth and surprising beauty. Don't miss out on it.

Barry is absolutely deserving of all the praise it gets and Bill Hader is excellent in this! This show has everything in it...comedy, drama, action, suspense, etc, etc. I promise you will not be disappointed once you start watching it!

Barry is just as good as everyone says it is. Bill Hader is amazing in this in a career defining role. In fact, the entire cast is amazing. It has been nominated and won so many awards it's hard to keep track of and every one of them has been deserving. It follows a depressed hitman named Barry (Bill Hader) who's looking for a way out of the business. He travels to L. A. to kill actor but falls in love with the city. He gets involved with an acting class and instantly loves it and wants to become an actor. He meets and falls for his girlfriend, Sally (Sarah Goldberg), there. He wants to become an actor but his old handler, Fuchs, won't let him walk away. Besides Hader and Goldberg, it stars Henry Winkler, Anthony Carrigan, Stephen Root and more. I don't know what else I can say about this incredible show that hasn't already been said. Just go watch for yourself!

HBO's hottest show is "BARRY". Former SNL member and current boyfriend of the internet, Bill Hader, has gone ALL OUT. This show has everything! Depression, ptsd, a morally conflicted hit-man, and if that's not funny enough, just wait till episode 7!

Okay, but seriously, this is an amazing show. Really well written and acted. The shifts from comedy to drama are so intense! I love how the mob guys are written, especially noho hank and the humour that character brings. I love how all of Barry's actions are in-line with his character and what we know about him so far. This show is so good. I am forcing everyone I know to watch.

I agree with everything good said about this black comedy and can only emphatically add that the Chechen gang is exquisitely crafted and hilarious. Perhaps the most extraordinary character, the bald Noho ("Can I get you a submarine sandwich?"), is unforgettable. Just a brilliant performance. The ridiculous twins, one who is obsessed with killing Barry and then his tortuous brother who insists on building a set of stocks, are wonderfully absurd.

It has got all emotions covered - drama, thrill, romance etc. And is Comic with a capital C. All actors play their respective part very well and writing with direction is amazing.

Deserves more popularity and seasons.

Should be watched.

Having just finished Chapter 7, and realizing that I have to wait for the finale just like the rest of you, I decided to give a reason as to why you should be watching. The film major in me sees the inevitable gold mine of information that this show is. Berg and Hader have began crafting an amazing world with this show. There isn't a single character that feels out of place. Barry has this incredibly relatable motivation of 'What am I doing with my life?" Yet it is portrayed in a way that pulls you away from the dogged question in reality. Barry is the epitome of dark comedy, you'll laugh hard with one breath and gut wrench in the next. There is no action that does not have a consequence, the conflicts that arise only resolve in more conflict. The actors acting as actors learning to act is sublime. I could go for days about why Barry is a new staple for HBO, but I suggest you watch it and see for yourself. If you're studying film/script-writing/acting you need to add this to your watch list, it's a goldmine of skills.

This show reminds me a little of how Bojack Horseman is structured in a good way. With being all happy and go lucky until it stops on a dime and becomes an insane tense filled show all because the main character is a "good guy" that's really an jerk. Now that since Bojack is one my favorite show that's a great compliment from me but Barry also does its own thing.

The cast of Barry are all great to Sally, Bill Dautrive (Fuches), Gene, and of course Noho-Hank. All of these characters are amazing and unique in their own way but all helping to propel the story of Barry. Barry at first just seems like a random assassin to be watching but as the show progress you just watch his slow descent into madness as he desperately clings to his newfound life but the old just right behind . I don't want to get to specifics but these moment do come around in absolute tense moments that just make you loose it. Cant wait for season 4.

Sometimes you watch a show and it's like everything about it just works and that is the case with Barry. The acting is outstanding all the way around. Congratulations to Bill Hader for making every scene he is in perfection. I love all the characters really and could go on and on but I want to just mention Henry Winkler. What a great role for him! Fantastic character and I would watch the show just to see more of Gene if I didn't love everyone else too. Mostly spectacular writing though. The writers killed it on this show (pun intended). Congratulations to everyone.

Barry's excellent first season deftly blends comedy with very dark material, avoiding the usual clichés or owning up to them in creative and fresh ways. The acting is excellent all-round with no one to single out as being too good or bad. The second season continues much in the same vein, but the material is already suffering. The original premise is being milked too hard and loses some luster and charm, but it is still quite fun and better than many of the shows out there. Then comes the third season, and I think the whole creative team completely messes up. They knew they cannot keep doing the same thing three seasons in a row, but they couldn't quite decide what it is they are doing.

Consequently, we get a season that is not very funny but is often so dark and severe that it seems entirely out of place with the previous ones. The actors are still excellent, and even the material is not bad, often it wouldn't be out of place in a psychological horror, but somehow the Barryness of it all is lost, and we are left with stark, barren characters, monsters of their own making inhabiting a cruel and profoundly unfunny world. This can be good stuff, but it's not Barry.

Premise : An mercenary for hire wants to become an actor

Barry is a well made dark comedy and some may not like it but overall it is one of the best in that genre. I felt S03 to be a bit laggy in the beginning but the ending made up to it. Other streaming sites should learn from HBO on selecting content for a series.

I've just completed Season 4. Barry is a tough one because Covid really damaged the momentum they had developed. In Season 1 we start with Barry, a soulless shell of a man who returns from the war empty and dead inside, but connected to his fellow soldiers by his now blossomed skill of being a ruthless killer. Returning to his father figure Fuches, a disturbed self-serving leach of a man, Barry begins a career as a hitman. This leads him to a fateful encounter with the acting class of Gene Cousineau, where Barry suddenly feels alive again and decides that acting will be the path that leads him to redemption. The next 3 seasons are simply following the story of Barry's tragic fate, as his past prevents his attempt to distance himself, and his character's flaws doom him.

During this journey, we have two separated worlds. There is Fuches and the mafia/gangland 'bad' guys, who provide us with complete absurdist humor and the core belly laugh moments of the show. On the other side, are the Hollywood wannabees of the trying-to-be-actors world, who provide us with irony, sarcasm, self-oblivious egoism, cowardice, bravado and lies. Barry, who maybe wants to be good, but simply isn't, navigates and attempts to balance the escalating absurdist plot devices that lead him deeper towards his tragic fate.

Ultimately, we learn that not a single character in this show was a good person. Barry, unable to change is doomed. Fuches, a needy prideful man chooses humanity. To me, Sarah Goldberg, who plays the love interest, Sally is the star of this show. She plays a hopeless vain, scared, desirous, self-serving, dishonest, needy egotistical woman and she is just awesome. How she didn't win an Emmy for this part escapes me. And at the end of the show, it seems that her character is the one that mattered. She is the one who emerges at the end a changed person...not better in anyway, but completely aware of her weaknesses and no longer naive about herself....she fully embraces her shallowness.

So what we get here is a pretty strong performance by Bill Hader, but the character itself is one note. Henry Winkler plays his role well, but the character is a despicable person. He is droll and oblivious, yet conniving at the same time. The humor surrounding the Gangsters is absurd. Some of it is plain funny, but overall it is simplistic and unrealistic. Ditto, with some of the police and Hollywood people. They allow the cheap gut laughs that the main characters wallowing in darkness can not give us.

At the end, the story comes to a too neat somewhat contrived conclusion. You kind of had hoped for something more lighthearted, but when there are no good guys, I guess it made sense.

It's not a truly great TV series, the timeline moves quickly over the four seasons, only Sally achieves any resolution, and the cheap nature of much of the humor spoils the higher aspirations that one had for the character arcs after Season 1. They got the horse across the finish line, but they didn't win the derby.

It's hard to understand how a show like this manages to be funny and emotionally satisfying, within it's short episode spans of 25-30 mins. It's even harder to understand how come this isn't that popular.

Writing, direction, acting and at times, soundtrack is all top notch. Bill Hader is terrifyingly good throughout. I don't want this review to be long, but just want to add that it's probably one of THE best shows running in right now.

Bill Hader really showed his chops in this episode but I have to say that Chris Marquette as Chris Lucado, stole the scene! His freak out in the car was amazing! Why this actor doesn't have more top movie/tv roles I don't know. This episode was the best of them all!

I felt like I was watching Bill Hader win an Emmy in real time. Absolutely loved it!

This is a great show I highly recommend it. Barry has drama, action, thrill, and lots of laughs. Like I said, if you enjoy well timed comic relief this is the show for you. Also, Bill Haders performance is perfect and I can't imagine anyone else in this role.

This is the first review I've written for imdb despite using the site for years. The reason? This show. I loved it. I feel like it's a show that might fly under the radar and get missed by many people who would love it.

Bill Hader is excellent in it. I have a whole new respect for him as an actor. The supporting cast is just as fantastic. Henry Winkler plays his role perfect. My favorite though, is Anthony Carrigan as NoHo Hank. He provides comic relief in a way that hits my sense of humor dead on. I hope to see more of him in this show and future roles.

Give this show a try. I seem some reviews comment on episode 7, and I agree that episode brings the show to the next level for me. I'm writing this just after I watched that episode. I loved it long before this episode, but if it hasn't got you fully hooked after a few, hold on until then.

I just finished binge watching season one of Barry. Short episodes you can't get enough of. It would be a total disappointment if there would be not more seasons of this show. It's the perfect mix between crime and comedy. The humor is very subtle, almost like they don't do it on purpose to be funny, but they certainly are. Bill Hader as Barry has one of those faces and expressions that makes him naturally funny. But not only him, but the whole cast was funny. Stephen Root, Glenn Fleshler, Anthony Carrigan, Paula Newsome, Henry Winkler and Sarah Goldberg all add something funny and special to this show. The story is well brought and entertaining. I really can't wait for more seasons of Barry.

Currently up to episode 2 of season 2, so this review is based on what I've seen so far.

I've read so many rave reviews about this show but was hesitant to watch it because usually when things are hyped up so much they disappoint me. This one is good, I'm really enjoying it. But do I think it's amazing and worth 10 stars? Not quite.

The short episodes are an easy watch, the dark comedy is quite good. I giggle out loud sometimes but I've never had a belly laugh or anything. Hank is definitely the best character to watch. The actor plays him so well. Gene is a close second.

There's some action and dark moments which I also enjoy, it's a good mix. Acting is decent. Looking forward to watching more. If you like Fargo, Mr Inbetween (the superior hitman show it you ask me) and Atlanta you'll like this!

Edited after finishing to go from a 7 to an 8. I did end up laughing out loud, crying out loud and gasping out loud! Great show that will be missed.

Season 3 of Barry sees the show lose most of the momentum it built up in the first two seasons. Gone is the dramatic struggle of the main character, gone are the wild and tightly written scenarios, and gone is the dark humor that accompanied those two compelling aspects.

Season 3 isn't a complete dud, but it just feels like a shell of its former self, to the point where any subsequent seasons will have trouble saving it as a whole.

At the time of this writing it looks like there will be a Season 4 to perhaps wrap things up, but at this point the main draw to watch it is merely for completion's sake.

It's an odd mix. Many dramatic and comedic scenes intertwined but sometimes the flow suffers. It's a show about redemption that is always just one step away. I'm a big fan of the general concept (hitman that wants af fresh start). The Sally character stifles the show and sucks the life out of every scene. Just expect in her scenes that everything is about her getting what she needs. The supporting work is exceptional. Winkler is amazing as are Root and Carrigan as Noho Hank. Actually, It could have been great without the entire Sally character. I'm not trying to dismiss the straight forward delivery of abusive relationships but it seems awkward at times when only 20 seconds after a prank time laugh. The Sally role is exhausting to watch as it's painfully predictable. Any time something doesn't go her way, there will be 4 minutes of ranting, that are completed wasted on me. Thank goodness for the other storylines.

Barry is a great show, the characters are really good and all contribute to the show even though their characters are strong with their own story. Noho Hank is a really good character and the acting is great throughout. I would have given it 10 stars if it wasn't for season 4.

Seasons one and two drew me in because of the humour - a hit man enrolls in an acting class. The very premise itself is ludicrous but due to the great acting and script it works. Season 4 however, has none of the humour and Barry's likeability is gone. The period when he's in hiding with Sally is drawn out for too long and becomes boring.

I even started fast forwarding through little sections.

Losing the humour means the essence of what made seasons 1 and 2 so good, is gone. And the ending is sad. Season 4 is a drama but not a very good one.

I was on the fence after the first episode of Barry, which was quirky and amusing but didn't quite grab me. But my girlfriend insisted we watch a second episode, and then I got hooked.

The series involves a hit man who starts taking acting classes from Henry Winkler, and deals with the conflict between those two lives. The actors who portrays students are impressively able to give various levels of performances based on teacher feedback (Sarah Goldberg is especially good, and makes me understand the acting process a little better).

Bill Hader is excellent in the lead, but the standout comedic performance is Anthony Carrigan as a quirky, cue-ball-headed criminal. I'm ready for him to get a spin-off series.

A warning about Barry. The series is often hilariously funny, but it's also dark. And towards the end it gets really, really dark. The last couple of episodes of season 1 are rather upsetting. So prepare yourself.

UPDATE: season 2 was also good but for darker and darker. By season 3 it seemed to be a lot of horrific and very little actual comedy and my girlfriend and I stopped watching.