--- title: "Barry" year: 2018 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/barry" fi1m_score: 85 critics_score: 81 critics_reviews: 10 published: "2026-09-17T11:53:30.199500+00:00" updated: "2026-09-17T11:53:30.679584+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Barry (2018) Created by Alec Berg, Bill Hader · MPA TV-MA · Comedy, Crime, Drama **Fi1m score: 85** · Critics 81 from 10 reviews *In a sentence:* Everyone in this acting class is pretending to be someone else; only one of them is armed > Bill Hader and Alec Berg’s series about a hitman who wanders into an acting class starts as a joke and ends somewhere much darker, and earns the change. By the fourth season the laughs have mostly gone, and the show means them to have. ## Synopsis Barry Berkman (Bill Hader) kills people for money, his jobs arranged by Monroe Fuches (Stephen Root), an old family friend who handles the work. Fuches sends him to Los Angeles to deal with Ryan Madison (Tyler Jacob Moore), an aspiring actor whom the Chechen gangster Goran Pazar (Glenn Fleshler) wants dead. Barry follows Ryan into an acting class run by Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler), a vain, broke teacher with a small theatre and a large opinion of himself, and meets Sally Reed (Sarah Goldberg), a student who wants to be seen. Pazar’s cheerful lieutenant NoHo Hank (Anthony Carrigan) wants the job finished. Barry would rather stay in the class. ## Review Barry Berkman (Bill Hader) has been told he is good at one thing, and he has stopped feeling anything about it. Monroe Fuches (Stephen Root), the family friend who runs him, sends him to Los Angeles to kill an actor, Ryan Madison (Tyler Jacob Moore), and Barry follows the man into Gene Cousineau’s (Henry Winkler) acting class, sits down, and finds he does not want to leave. That is the whole premise, and Hader and Alec Berg, who created the show, know it will not carry 32 half-hour episodes. So they let it stop being funny, slowly, on purpose. We recommend it warmly, with the caveat that by the last season you will not be laughing much and are not meant to be. Hader is the reason it works. He plays Barry with a face that barely moves and a voice that seems to be arriving from another room, and the comedy of the early episodes is in watching a man who does terrible things be unable to perform them. The class is full of people desperate to be looked at; the one person with something to hide is the one who cannot act. Winkler’s Gene is a great creation, a teacher selling his own method to students who cannot afford it, and Winkler never asks us to like him, which is why it lands when the show eventually does. Sarah Goldberg’s Sally is ambitious in a way the writers take seriously and do not always approve of, and Goldberg makes her tiring and true at the same time. Then there is NoHo Hank. Anthony Carrigan plays Goran Pazar’s second-in-command as a gangster who behaves like a hospitality manager, thanking people for coming, apologising for the inconvenience of a shooting. We laughed at him more than at anyone else in the show. Then, in a later season, a scene we will not describe made us feel sick about having done so, and Carrigan got there without changing the performance at all. That is the show’s method in one character: it lets you enjoy something and then makes you look at it. It is shot, by Carl Herse and later Paula Huidobro among others, in flat Los Angeles daylight: car parks, strip malls, kitchens under fluorescent tubes. Nothing is made handsome, so a killing happens in the same dull places as a lunch. Hiro Murai directs episodes in the first season and brings the stillness he uses on [*Atlanta*](https://film.one/tv/atlanta), long holds on people not saying what they mean. Hader directs more and more of it himself and turns out to have a taste for staging action from where a camera would least like to be. David Wingo’s music stays out of the way; many scenes are left unscored, so that after a gun goes off you hear the hum of the strip lights. The editors, Jeff Buchanan, Kyle Reiter, Ali Greer and Franky Guttman, cut away from punchlines a beat early, which is why the jokes feel like something you were not supposed to catch. The flaws are real. The Hollywood satire is the weakest strand: auditions, agents, executives who speak in slogans, and a long storyline about Sally’s own series that the show keeps returning to when we wanted to be elsewhere. Gene’s vanity is given one beat too many in most seasons. There are episodes in the later seasons we admired without enjoying. Paula Newsome’s Detective Janice Moss, investigating the class, is one of the few people in it who seems to be having a life, and the show could have used more of that. The last season takes a turn we will not describe. It lost some viewers, and we understood why. We went with it, but there were moments when the show seemed to have made up its mind about Barry before we had, and it stopped arguing with itself. Most critics rated the first season highly and we would go a little further, because what happens after it is braver than the pilot promised. Watch two episodes at a time and no more. They are half an hour each and heavier than that sounds. It is not a comedy about actors, whatever it looks like at the start; it is about a man who has killed people, and it stops letting that be funny. *Fi1m score 85, published 17 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Every one of the ten reviews is positive, and nearly all of them land on the same thing: Bill Hader. Critics describe his hitman as weary, anxious and closed off, and credit the performance with holding together a series that swings between violent crime drama and a satire of hopeful actors in Los Angeles. The blend of tones is the second point of agreement; most critics find the two halves sit together rather than jar, and several note that the show cares more about Barry’s depression and his search for a purpose than about jokes. Henry Winkler’s acting teacher and the Chechen mob material draw particular mention. The reservations are mild and few. Variety finds the caper elements somewhat derivative and the violence graphic, and sits, with The Guardian, at the lower end. The spread is otherwise narrow, from good to very good, with Collider alone calling it one of the best debuts in recent memory. ### Reviews we read (10) - **The AV Club**, Vikram Murthi (A-): The season finale delivers a satisfying yet open-ended conclusion to Barry's first season, with the world briefly conspiring to offer the hitman a fresh start before complications return. The critic praises the episode's mix of humor, pathos, and tension, particularly the Chechen mob material and NoHo Hank's comedic presence. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/barry-closes-out-the-season-with-a-bang-1825985575) - **Vulture** (85/100, inferred): Barry succeeds as a tonally shifting series that braids crime drama and comedy around a hitman's attempt to escape his life through acting. The critic singles out Bill Hader's nuanced performance as the standout element, noting his ability to convey emotional detachment and inner turmoil. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2018/03/barry-hbo-review-bill-haders-new-hitman-comedy.html) - **The Telegraph**, Ed Cumming (4/5): The review finds the series an effective twist on Hollywood self-indulgence, with pathos alongside cynicism. Bill Hader's weary performance and confident dialogue help it hit its mark. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2018/04/26/barry-review-assassin-comedy-hits-mark/) - **The Guardian**, Sam Wollaston (70/100, inferred): The critic praises the show's clever blend of violent crime drama and comedy about a hitman who stumbles into an acting class. Strong performances, especially by Bill Hader and Henry Winkler, and the unlikely juxtaposition of tones make it compelling. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/apr/26/barry-review-a-perfect-storm-of-horror-and-hilarity-as-bill-haders-hitman-turns-actor) - **Variety** (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the HBO series a low-key but likable caper comedy blending aspiring actors, depression themes, and crime elements, with solid performances especially from Hader as the stressed protagonist. It succeeds as a showcase for the cast despite some derivative qualities and graphic violence. [Read](https://variety.com/2018/tv/reviews/bill-hader-barry-henry-winkler-hbo-review-sxsw-1202723178/) - **Collider**, Adam Chitwood (★★★★★): The series is one of the best and most surprising debuts in recent memory, a half-hour HBO comedy with tonal twists that balance laughs and emotional depth. Hader delivers a phenomenal, layered performance as the hitman drawn to acting, and the show crafts a complete, richly satisfying first season. [Read](https://collider.com/barry-review-bill-hader-hbo/) - **Consequence** (80/100, inferred): Barry is a sharp, stinging Hollywood satire with a strong emotional core about a bored, depressed killer finding purpose through acting. Hader and Berg wring genuine warmth from the characters while delivering consistent humor and exploring themes of identity, performance, and outrunning emptiness. [Read](https://consequence.net/2018/03/bill-hader-is-a-shitty-actor-trying-to-outpace-death-in-the-hilarious-surprisingly-existential-barry/) - **Den of Geek**, Nick Harley (80/100, inferred): The pilot establishes Barry as a pitch-black dramedy that balances the hitman's mental fatigue with satire of aspiring actors in LA. The critic highlights the sharp writing, compelling characters, and Hader's strong work both in front of and behind the camera. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/barry-episode-1-review-chapter-one-make-your-mark/) - **/Film**, Jacob Hall (80/100, inferred): Barry is a bloody great showcase for Hader, who is terrific as the internalized, anxious hitman finding unexpected life in an acting class. The series grounds its high-concept premise in relatable subtext and bleak black comedy, with strong supporting turns and a pitch-black HBO style. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/556823/barry-review/) - **The Ringer**, Alison Herman (80/100, inferred): The critic finds that Barry subverts expectations for a post-SNL vehicle and crime comedy by prioritizing existential questions over laughs, with its setup allowing for richer material than standard fish-out-of-water gags. Hader's understated performance as the hitman-turned-actor is singled out for praise, as is the show's focus on contrasts between his two worlds. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2018/03/25/tv/barry-hbo-episode-one) ## Details - **Created by:** Alec Berg, Bill Hader - **Creator:** Alec Berg, Bill Hader - **Director:** Bill Hader, Alec Berg, Hiro Murai, Liza Johnson, Maggie Carey, Minkie Spiro - **Writer:** Bill Hader, Alec Berg, Duffy Boudreau, Elizabeth Sarnoff, Emily Heller, Emma Barrie, Taofik Kolade, Jason Kim, Nicky Hirsch, Sarah Solemani, Ben Smith - **Cinematography:** Paula Huidobro, Carl Herse, Darran Tiernan, Brandon Trost - **Editor:** Ali Greer, Franky Guttman, Jeff Buchanan, Kyle Reiter - **Music:** David Wingo - **Production design:** Eric Schoonover, Tyler B. Robinson - **Costume design:** Audrey Fisher, Tiffany White Stanton, Chrisi Karvonides-Dushenko - **Producer:** Julie Camino, Aida Rodgers, Arturs Rusis - **Cast:** Bill Hader as Barry Berkman; Sarah Goldberg as Sally Reed; Anthony Carrigan as NoHo Hank; Henry Winkler as Gene Cousineau; Stephen Root as Monroe Fuches; Sarah Burns as Detective Mae Dunn; Robert Wisdom as Jim Moss; Glenn Fleshler as Goran Pazar - **Certificate (MPA):** TV-MA - **Release (the US):** 25 March 2018 - **Genres:** Comedy, Crime, Drama ## Where to watch in the US - HBO Max: streaming, uhd - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd - Hulu: add-on, hd - Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd - Apple TV: buy, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy, sd *Checked 2026-09-17.* Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IS, IT, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TH, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *In Bruges* (2008), Fi1m 83: Two hitmen, one guilty conscience and a Belgian town; funny until it stops being — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/in-bruges.md) - *Grosse Pointe Blank* (1997), Fi1m 55: A contract killer goes to his school reunion and tries to explain his job — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/grosse-pointe-blank.md) - *Atlanta* (2016): Hiro Murai’s other series, same flat light and silences, more dreams and fewer guns - *Le Samouraï* (1967): Alain Delon as a hitman with no inner life, or one he keeps from us - *Get Shorty* (1995), Fi1m 82: A gangster discovers the film business is the only trade with worse people in it — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/get-shorty.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/barry