Get Hard – Film Review
It seems pointless to give this movie any kind of review. Have you ever seen a Will Ferrell movie before? Then you probably know what to expect from this one. In fact, you probably know what to expect from this movie by simply looking at the poster. Kevin Hart is corn-rolling Will Ferrell’s hair? But old white guys don’t wear their hair in corn rolls! What kind of subversive madness is this? One ticket please.
Ferrell plays a wealthy businessman convicted of stealing millions from clients and sentenced to ten years in the brutal San Quentin Correctional Facility, instead of the usual eighteen months in a minimum security prison/golf resort as an example to other white collar criminals. With thirty days to get his affairs in order he enlists the services of Kevin Hart to get him ready for the realities of prison life. He mistakenly believes that Hart has served time behind bars simply because of his race and the power of statistics. But Hart is just an honest hard-working man who is trying to build a better life for his wife and young daughter and accepts the job for the money. Will life lessons be learned? Will an unlikely friendship be forged? Stop asking stupid questions.
The majority of the movie is given over to the comedic talents of Ferrell and Hart, as they turn Ferrell’s house into a makeshift prison while the pair riff off each other relentlessly. This is all pretty amusing and both leads are genuinely talented and likeable but the movie is a far cry from some of Ferrell’s best work and it suffers from too many cliched montage sequences which have become all too prevalent in modern comedy cinema. It also wastes the comedic talents of Alison Brie who plays the shallow rich girl engaged to Ferrell. Will she reveal her true colours once he is sentenced? Is there a penis based joke or two? There has to be, right? Look at the movie’s title!
If you like Ferrell and Hart and are not too demanding then this is the comedy movie of the week for you. It bears a few similarities to the classic 80s comedy Trading Places but lacks the subtlety and character of that movie. It could almost be a bad remake. I haven’t seen that movie in ages. I think I’ll go watch Trading Places.
Get Hard is in cinemas on Friday 27th March and you can check out the trailer below.
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Featured Image Credit – Warner Brothers
