Get Hard, 2015
Directed by Etan Cohen
Starring Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, Craig T. Nelson, Alison Brie, T.I, Edwina Findley Dickerson, Ariana Neal, Paul Ben-Victor
SYNOPSIS:
When millionaire James King is nailed for fraud and bound for San Quentin, he turns to Darnell Lewis to prep him to go behind bars.
Let’s just address the elephant in the room; Get Hard is one of the most relentlessly offensive movies to be released in quite some time, which is a loaded statement considering that pretty much all R-rated comedies are about being juvenile. That isn’t a bad thing though; complete stupidity can yield hilarious material so long as the execution is not malicious, but intended for fun. Yes, Get Hard goes for broke with racial and sexual content (there is literally a scene where Will Ferrell comes inches away from sucking on a penis) but I’ll be damned if the movie is actually racist or homophobic.
Part of the charm is just how dumb this movie really is. Will Ferrell plays a rich businessman framed for fraud and sentenced to prison, and seeks the tutoring of a black man played by the oh-so intimidating Kevin Hart, simply because he must have went to prison because of his skin color. If you can’t get on board with the premise then don’t even watch the movie, but if the thought of beloved comedians Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart playing the roles they have played their whole careers, just opposite one another excites you, then yes, you should go see Get Hard.
Kevin Hart consistently attempts to act like a stereotypical gangster to harden an idiotic yet kindhearted Will Ferrell up for the realities of maximum-security prison, which is of course lots of butt-****ing and shanking. The movie consistently flows from training set piece to set piece delivering some good laughs around each corner. I don’t know if there is anything in the movie that necessarily makes it a classic comedy, but there are a decent amount of laughs and very little boredom.
There is also a revolving door of supporting characters that come and go, such as rapper T.I playing a real gangster and cousin of Kevin Hart, while Alison Brie plays a cold-hearted bitch that only loves Will Ferrell for the money. They also share one of the weirdest and funniest sex scenes in quite some time.
Even though Get Hard follows comedy 101 from a narrative point structurally, it is somewhat forgivable and easy to overlook because good times will be had throughout the experience. Furthermore, one of the best gags in the movie plays off of the fact that every single member of the audience knows who did the framing except poor innocent Will Ferrell. Kevin Hart putting together who the culprit is about 10 seconds after Will Ferrell explains he might have framed him might just be the funniest scene in the movie, aside from Will Ferrell uttering baked potato with a shiv stuck in his forehead.
Get Hard may not rank up there in the upper echelon of great comedies, but being consistently funny is better than nothing. My colleague Luke Owen who also reviewed the movie said this is probably the funniest Will Ferrell has been in years, and that’s something I agree with. Having the always pleasantly welcome hyperactive energy of Kevin Hart to create this comedy duo certainly helped. I don’t want to see a sequel, but Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart had too much hilarious chemistry to not work again together.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder – An aficionado of film, wrestling, and gaming. Follow me on Twitter or friend me on Facebook
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszFLSgML6ddazw180SXMvMz5&feature=player_embedded&v=ONsp_bmDYXc
Originally published March 28, 2015. Updated April 13, 2018.
