Released by Warner Brothers
Review by Adam Mast
GET HARD is one big mess of a comedy and it has been accused of setting out to offend as many demographics as humanly possible. This raunchy, irreverent R-rated movie attempts to ring humor out of everything from race to homosexuality to thug life, to white collar crime, and as offensive as the proceedings tend to get here, a part of me truly believes that wasn’t necessarily the intent. Clearly, GET HARD is taking stereotypes to task. This movie is going for slapstick and parody in the same way that CRASH went for provocative and BULWORTH went for satire, but it’s so all over the place and so lacking in consistent humor, that a lot of the film just comes across as dull, lazy, and mean spirited. And the barrage of prison rape jokes do absolutely nothing to liven the proceedings.
Taking a cue from buddy/buddy comedies like RUSH HOUR, THE HEAT, and the 80’s Gene Wilder/Richard Pryor gem STIR CRAZY, GET HARD follows dim bulb millionaire James King (Will Ferrell) who, after being convicted of fraud, hires sweet-natured Darnell Lewis (Kevin Hart) to train him to be “hard” so that he might survive an upcoming prison sentence at San Quentin. Of course, James only thinks that Darnell has the capability of teaching him the ways of the “yard” because he’s a black man. And being that he’s black, he must have done time at some point in his life, right? As this duo form an unlikely friendship, Darnell begins to question whether or not James is actually guilty of the crime for which he’s been accused.
GET HARD banks on Ferrell and Hart being able to rise above a very” loosey-goosey” string of ridiculously conceived scenarios by way of their chemistry and individual star power. Sometimes it works, but most of the time it doesn’t.
Hart plays the straight man to Ferrell’s dopey loose cannon and while he has a few moments to speak of, including an energetic sequence in which he alternately plays a trio of distinctively unique prisoners during a James “yard” training session, he is dwarfed by Ferrell both physically and in terms of the funny factor. Of course, I must admit, it is interesting seeing Hart in occasional restrained mode. It’s a side of this funny man that we seldom get to see. As a duo, Ferrell and Hart have a friendly rapport, but from an individual stand point, I’m more partial to Ferrell’s brand of nutty improv than I am of Hart’s manic, rapid fire delivery. Having said that, what GET HARD could have used more of is Craig T. Nelson but sadly, he only has about 10 minutes of screen time.
Director Etan Coen and screenwriters Jay Martel & Ian Roberts come up short in their bid for Trey Parker/Matt Stone-size equal opportunist offensiveness and hilarity (see TEAM AMERICA) because the jokes simply aren’t consistent enough. Even when this film takes aim at white collar crime and our desire for excess, all GET HARD really did was remind me how much more I loved Martin Scorsese’s THE WOLF OF WALL STREET.
Laughter is the best medicine, and certainly comedy can take aim at issues as serious (and timely) as race and get its point across. DEAR WHITE PEOPLE is a prime example. The problem with GET HARD is that it isn’t as funny as it should be, and given that it stars Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart, that’s a big strike against it. But then, the crowd I watched it with was in hysterics for the majority of the film’s running time so what the hell do I know.
