Get Hard
Financial investor and manager James King (Will Ferrell) is nailed with fraud charges and given thirty days to get his affairs in order before he serves 10 years in San Quentin penitentiary. In a stroke of ignorant genius King decides he needs a coach to teach him how to survive on the inside, enter car wash entrepreneur and NON-CRIMINAL Darnell Lewis (Kevin Hart). Desperate times for both individuals, James needs knowledge and Darnell needs cash, a deal is struck. But, will Darnell’s training pay off, will James in fact get “Hard” for prison, and what about James’s soon to be father in-law (Craig T. Nelson) and his investigation into James’s alleged wrong doings? Will justice ever be served?
Directed by first timer Etan Cohen, all the standard tropes of a Will Ferrell flick seem in action, a bumbling idiot of a man based heavily on the stereotypes of the idiots of our time, a goof, a buffoon, yet still pointed with intelligent satire and a hefty dose of physical comedy. And, to Kevin Hart’s credit, finally a role that demands more dynamics than just screaming, in fact it’s a chance to shine, a one man show that takes place in a tennis court comes to mind, well played sir. Technically proficient, it’s hard to fault a film that delivers exactly what we’ve come to expect from its principal actors; and, while not a great film from it’s overall plot and lunacy, the laugh out loud count could have been a little higher, chuckles were still plentiful. Maybe worth a matinee for fans but really more of a rental, Get Hard is rated R.