Get Hard

I'm a pretty big fan of Will Ferrell's.

Like most actors and comedians, he has his highs (both Anchormans, The Other Guys, Elf, and my personal favorite, Step Brothers) and his lows (Semi-Pro comes to mind) but in general, he is a damn funny guy. For further proof just search YouTube for his most recent interviews with Jimmy Fallon and Conan for the Get Hard promotion circuit.

Kevin Hart, I'm a little less familiar with, but I still find pretty funny. His stand-up is comedic gold, he is usually the best part of most of his films, and the dude works insanely hard in the industry.

It was just a matter of time before these two teamed up and gave us something special. According to other critics however, Get Hard isn't that special, in fact, most of them are saying it's terrible, offensive, blah, blah, blah.

Get Hard is not Ferrell's funniest film, nor is it Hart's. But the R-rated comedy is not even close to being "bad" and if you're too busy getting offended by the film, you should remind yourself that A) it's rated R and B) it's just a movie. I won't delve much more into the feelings fellow critics share but I know that I was laughing pretty heartily throughout, as was my girlfriend, and the busy Saturday night crowd that was in our theater.

Ferrell's a thug in real life.
Mayo mother f**ker!

I often like to get the bad out of the way first, so I'll just go right ahead and do that. For starters, the plot unfolds about exactly as you would predict it would from watching a single trailer. Not unexpected in a Ferrell comedy vehicle, but I guess the better way to put it is; there are no surprises and it seems as if the plot (which is really only spoken about in the beginning and the end of the film) seems like more of the hey-we-need-this-structure-to-exist behind the funny scenarios that the film wants to portray. My biggest "issue" with Get Hard was that I wasn't gut-busting laughing most of the time. When speaking to most of Ferrell's classics or Hart's standup, they are usually a practice in breathing techniques as you are trying to gasp for air in between laughs. There are some HARD laughs (pun intended) in the film, but generally speaking, these are continuous light chuckles as opposed to the continuous soda-spitting laughter I've found in other similar films.

I've heard a lot about a significant portion of the jokes falling flat, but honestly, I didn't encounter more than a handful of them. There is one joke where I'm pretty sure they were trying to make a Bin Laden joke...obviously it didn't land if I couldn't tell, but other than that, I found that most of the jokes landed, and I'd say my theater agreed with me. There are quite a few prison rape jokes, mainly boiling down to d**k jokes, throughout, but I was rolling/chuckling with most of them. I suppose I'm not easily offended but when Ferrell is practicing his trash talk, hearing him tell an inmate he should get a Costco card because he'll be "gettin' d**ks in BULK!" I was almost in tears. Obviously, if these types of jokes aren't your thing, it will wear on you pretty fast.

New Halloween costume?

Bench press of Kevin Hart = 65 lbs

Get Hard is a film that doesn't really require much more review as it was basically exactly what I was expecting. While it may not have been the Ferrell-classic I was hoping/kind-of-predicting, it's still pretty damn funny at the end of the day. In fact, it reminds me a lot of his venture with Zach Galifianakis, The Campaign. While not his funniest venture by any means, it too still has its merits and its scenes full of laughter.

Simply put, when walking into Get Hard you should know exactly what you are going to get, and if the innuendo-filled title doesn't clue you in, then I don't know what will. If you find yourself offended, then I'm guessing Will Ferrell was never your cup of tea in the first place and that goes double for if you don't find it all that funny.

As for me? I really enjoyed my evening with it, even if it wasn't at rip-roaring as I expected.

CONS:

• It doesn't even really try, but there is basically a complete lack of an social commentary in a film so dependent on it's racial clashing
• A few jokes that try too hard/fall flat
• Predictable story and the plot feels like a background reason for these scenarios to exist
• Not as funny as I was hoping it would be but...

PROS:

• Still pretty damn funny. Most of the scenes elicit chuckle after chuckle and a few scenes are total gems (i.e. Will Ferrell trash talk, Kevin Hart playing 3 prison stereotypes, "sad dogging", etc.)
• Kevin Hart and Will Ferrell have some great interplay. I really hope they work together again in the future
• Fight scene at the end is pretty hilarious
• Checks most of the boxes in "race relation" scenarios that you can think of
• Provides the entertainment that is about exactly what you would expect: a fun, hilarious time at the theater

Rath's Review Score: 7.5/10