Movie Review - Get Hard

Get Hard (2015)

Starring Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, Tip "T.I." Harris, Alison Brie, and Craig T. Nelson

Directed by Etan Cohen

When millionaire hedge fund manager James King (Will Ferrell) is accused of fraud, arrested, convicted, and sentenced to ten years in a "non-cushy" prison, he finds himself completely at a loss as to how he's going to survive in the slammer.  Hoping to gain some street cred, he turns to Darnell (Kevin Hart), his car washer whom he assumes has been in prison because he's black (this is a comedy, remember...).  Desperate for money to move out of the inner city in order to send his daughter to a better school, Darnell reluctantly agrees to help, although Darnell may not be qualified to show James how to Get Hard.

There are a few laughs in Etan Cohen's Get Hard and when they land, they succeed quite well.  However, there are just too many long stretches of time where either the comedy falls flat or the screenplay keeps hitting the same notes over and over again.  This certainly isn't a politically correct movie and for that I appreciate its insistence on trying to push the line, but the "white guy pretending to "be black"" joke can only be utilized so many times before one's eyes start to roll.  Ferrell and Hart are both fine and their interactions together make up the funniest aspects of the film, but Get Hard is too repetitive to really be successful.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-