Written by Adam Mast
“Get Hard” is one big mess of a comedy and it has been accused of setting out to offend as many demographics as humanly possible. This raunchy, irreverent R-rated movie attempts to ring humor out of everything from race to homosexuality to thug life, to white collar crime, and as offensive as the proceedings tend to get here, a part of me truly believes that wasn’t necessarily the intent. Clearly, “Get Hard” is taking stereotypes to task. This movie is going for slapstick and parody in the same way that “Crash” went for provocative and “Bulworth” went for satire, but it’s so all over the place and so lacking in consistent humor, that a lot of the film just comes across as dull, lazy, and mean spirited. And the barrage of prison rape jokes do absolutely nothing to liven the proceedings.
Taking a cue from buddy/buddy comedies like “Rush Hour” and “The Heat”, “Get Hard” follows dim bulb millionaire James King (Will Ferrell) who, after being convicted of fraud, hires sweet-natured Darnell Lewis (Kevin Hart) to train him to be “hard” so that he might survive an upcoming prison sentence at San Quentin. Of course, James only thinks that Darnell has the capability of teaching him the ways of the “yard” because he’s a black man. And being that he’s black, he must have done time at some point in his life, right? As this duo form an unlikely friendship, Darnell begins to question whether or not James is actually guilty of the crime for which he’s been accused.
“Get Hard” banks on Ferrell and Hart being able to rise above a very” loosey-goosey” string of ridiculously conceived scenarios by way of their chemistry and individual star power. Sometimes it works, but most of the time it doesn’t.
Once again, Ferrell is in man child mode. We’ve seen him do this schtick to much stronger affect in movies like “Elf”, “Anchorman”, and “Old School” and while his role here doesn’t measure up to those previously mentioned efforts, I’d be lying if I said he didn’t make me laugh on several occasions. He’s a terrific improviser and the absurd, random words that spring from his mouth do tend to make one chuckle.
Hart plays the straight man to Ferrell’s dopey loose cannon and while he has a few moments to speak of, including an energetic sequence in which he alternately plays a trio of distinctively unique prisoners during a James “yard” training session, he is dwarfed by Ferrell both physically and in terms of the funny factor. As a duo, Ferrell and Hart have a friendly rapport, but from an individual stand point, I’m more partial to Ferrell’s brand of nutty improve than I am of Hart’s manic, rapid fire delivery.
Director Etan Coen and screenwriters Jay Martel & Ian Roberts come up short in their bid for Trey Parker/Matt Stone-size equal opportunist offensiveness and hilarity because the jokes simply aren’t consistent enough. Even when this film takes aim at white collar crime and our desire for excess, all “Get Hard” really did was remind me how much more I loved Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street”.
Laughter is the best medicine, and certainly comedy can take aim at issues as serious (and timely) as race and get its point across. “Dear White People” is a prime example. The problem with “Get Hard” is that it wasn’t funny enough and given that it stars Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart, that’s a big strike against it. But then, the crowd I watched it with was in hysterics for the majority of the film’s running time so what the hell do I know.
