Movie Breakdown: Get Hard (Noah)
People are doing traditional-style reviews all over the web, so we decided to try something different. In each “breakdown” we’ll take a look at what a film’s marketing led us to believe, how the movie actually played, and then what we learned from it all. Read on!
The Impression:
It’s got Kevin Hart in it which automatically drops it down to the very bottom of the list after anything starring Ian Ziering and George W. Bush’s amateur sex tape.
The Reality:
At this point, with comedies of this mind-numbing stature, I don’t even know what to say anymore. Did I enjoy the story of a very rich man (Will Ferrell) who’s sentenced to maximum security prison for money reasons and so believes that he’s going to die in the joint that he enlists his car washer (Kevin Hart) to teach him to, ahem, “get hard”? Yeah, like I enjoy unsalted mash potatoes or, uh, lukewarm bubbly water. Did I think the film bordered on the edge of offensive, and used a paper thin veneer of “social commentary” to just actively endorse the ridiculing of stereotypes? Yeah, sure. At the end of the day would I tell you, the reader, to go out and see this movie in the theater because it’s a redefinition of comedy, a broad new step in the career of Will Ferrell, that it ends with Kevin Hart falling off a building? No, no I wouldn’t. Get Hard plays like a “greatest hits” reel of Will Ferrell’s very Will Ferrell-y comedy – he cries, he “sad dogs”, he acts like a gangster, he plays a sort of sad giant (an Elf with money instead of gifts) totally unknowing of the world around him. It’s enjoyable to watch Ferrell because he’s an enjoyable actor, but you could’ve cut out the ham-handed story, especially the relationship that builds between Hart and him, and just strung the leftover bits together and called it Saturday Night Will and it would’ve been just as enjoyable. Get Hard is the definition of a “vehicle” for two stars – it’s a loose story built around them just doing dumb shit – and though, yes, it will illicit some laughs, you have to sit through the rest of the crap to get to them.
The Lesson:
T.I. is a surprisingly funny actor. You learn something new every day.
