Get Hard – Expected but fun

Quickie Review:

James King (Will Ferrell) is sentenced guilty for white collar crimes. Completely naïve to the world outside his mansion, he hires Darnell Lewis (Kevin Hart) to train and prepare him for the life behind bars. Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart have a very good comedic chemistry. The two personalities make the best of a predictable movie, and they are the reason why this movies works. More often than not it’s a really funny movie but when jokes falls flat, it misses by a large margin. All in all, Get Hard is an enjoyable comedy simply because of the cast.

Full Review:

I love lot of Will Ferrell’s movies, and I really enjoy Kevin Hart’s stand up. So seeing this duo in a feature film should get me excited, but I wasn’t. Mainly because I feared this movie would just be a collection of scenes that feel like skits. While that is somewhat the actual result, as a whole the movie was funny and hence I ended up having a pretty good time.

If you have seen any of Will Ferrell’s previous movies, you know exactly the type of character he is playing. Once again he is a bumbling idiot oblivious to, and out of touch with society norms. You would think that’d be a tiring gimmick, and you would be right if this was a solo Ferrell starring movie. Thankfully Get Hard still feels comedically fresh because of the addition of Kevin Hart. The best parts of the movie are the scenes dedicated to the two leads. They improvise a lot of these scenes off of their comedic strengths. Ferrell is great at delivering jokes that are borderline offensive but still likeable because it doesn’t fully cross that line. Meanwhile Hart is excellent with the physical comedy with his more animated body language. Special mention to T.I. who has a small role in the movie but steals the few scenes he is in.

Although I enjoyed majority of the improvisation, it may also be the movie’s biggest weakness. There are moments where a particular joke starts off well, but goes on for far too long. It starts to feel a little desperate, and if it isn’t a good joke to begin with, it becomes progressively worse. Luckily this doesn’t happen too frequently but it is noticeable. Additionally this movie is very predictable. I knew the exact beats of the story to expect within the first 15mins of the movie. So there is nothing surprising story wise, it follows the clichéd formula of comedies.

Despite the formulaic story and few overstretched jokes, Get Hard was pleasantly enjoyable. It delivers on consistent laughs, nothing gut busting but still satisfying. If you are a fan of Will Ferrell or Kevin Hart this is definitely a must-watch. On the other hand if you’re just a casual viewer looking for some laughs and a good time, I’d still recommend giving Get Hard a try (at least when released on VOD).