If the title is any indication, the sexual humor within “Get Hard” rivals that of “Superbad” and “Knocked Up.” That isn’t to say that this one is funnier than those films, but it is relentless with its irreverent jokes.
Like countless other comedies, “Get Hard” proves that pairing two famous comedians together doesn’t guarantee a good movie. While not without its laughs, this Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart team up is a forgettable raunch-fest that’s far from hilarious.
The movie follows the story of James King (Ferrell), a millionaire financial trader whose life turns upside down when he is convicted of a fraud scandal and sentenced to ten years in prison. With only 30 days to get his affairs together, James turns to his acquaintance Darnell Lewis (Hart), the manager of a car-cleaning service in the garage of James’ firm, to prepare him for prison life in exchange for $30,000.
What James doesn’t know is that Darnell has never been to prison. His only connection is his criminal cousin Russell (T.I.). That said, both James and Darnell learn together about the brutality of prison life in a bromance adventure filled with slapstick antics and absurd espionage.
Despite an amusing premise, the film’s humor is both bland and overtly reliant on its casting. Had any lesser comedians been placed in the lead roles, “Get Hard” would’ve been a complete flop. Fortunately, Ferrell and Hart are entertaining enough to distract audiences from the script’s poorly written jokes.
Although their screen chemistry is solid, the film as a whole is about as funny as any of the other fifty Hart movies that have come out in the last year. Producer and longtime Ferrell-collaborator Adam McKay had a hand in the story, but the film might have benefitted from him penning the script himself.
Instead, this job was left to director and “Tropic Thunder” writer Etan Cohen and “Key and Peele” writers Ian Roberts and Jay Martel. Cramming every racial and sexual stereotype imaginable into the screenplay, the writers end up trying too hard to make viewers laugh. James’ trophy wife Alissa (Alison Brie) is an airhead, his father-in-law Martin (Craig T. Nelson) is the bad guy and the reason he assumes Darnell has been to prison is because he looks like a thug.
Still, the film does manage to provide social commentary on the dichotomy between lower and higher classes while playing on the stereotypes that stem from it. Early on in the film when Darnell asks James for money, James gives a speech on the American Dream, saying that whether we’re born “rich or poor, white or miscellaneous,” hard work is required of all.
Moments like this provide the film with just enough cleverness to make it purposeful, but not enough to garner non-stop laughs. As Cohen’s directorial debut, the film falls somewhere between smart satire and mindless humor. At one point, James asks Darnell why he went to prison, and Darnell rattles off the plot of “Boyz in the Hood.” The joke is that since James is a rich, white man he’s never seen any black movies and because of it, believes every word his friend says.
Cohen’s visual aesthetic is more creative than a number of other recent comedies, serving as a complement to the film’s character appeal. Yet in spite of its accomplishments, “Get Hard” is ultimately a mediocre comedy and fortunately runs only two hours.
