I always thought the cheerleader sketch would have made a fun movie. Anyone know if Cheri OTeri is busy?
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“Get Hard” stars Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart in a movie about a wrongfully convicted but rich stock broker who prepares for doing his time in prison by hiring the man who washes his car to teach him the ropes. Ferrell plays the clueless rich white dude, and Hart steps in as the car washing black man trying to teach him the hard lessons of the street. All of which is supposed to result in riotous laughter and rollicking fun at your local cinema. Except for one thing it’s just not that funny.
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I mean don’t get me wrong, Hart and Ferrell are still funny guys and if the movie has any glimmer of enjoyability it’s in their charm and delivery. Both get a chance here and there to shine in their trademark ways. Farrell with his non-sequiter lunacy, and Hart with his spastic frustration. And yet, none of it adds up to any kind of sustained humor. Is it possible that two funny people cancel each other out? Have they both peaked and this is the best we can expect from them from here on out? Seriously, how does a movie with these two comedic talents end up more likely to induce cringes than to induce side pain from laughter?
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Honestly, I think it’s just a failure of execution. The structure and presentation of the material seems to short circuit any chance at humor all along the way. Sometimes it’s the predictability. Punch lines simply aren’t as funny when you see them coming a mile away. Othertimes it’s the plausibility. Most good humor is based in truth, and so much of this just rings false. Often it’s just bad writing, or bad acting, or the slow movement of the uninteresting plot mechanics, or a litany of other reasons the humor never gets a chance to shine. Primary among them is the way the movie revels in being offensive for offensive sake. Whether it’s the racial or sexual humor, the boundary pushing stuff never feels like it has much purpose behind getting a laugh out of uncomfortable stereotypes or situations. So, if you think a good night at the cinema is to sit through a couple hours of prison rape jokes, then this movie might be for you, Otherwise, you might want to spend your 10 bucks elsewhere.
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Overall, “Get Hard” is a waste of some really funny people, by saddling them with some really unfunny material. Even with a few brief moments of laughter from Hart and Farrell, there just isn’t enough funny in this comedy for it to be convicted with anything better than a D-.