GET HARD

Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart are two of the biggest comedy actors working in Hollywood right now so it was kind of inevitable that they would take advantage of that and do a film together. 

Ferrell has starred in some of my favourite comedies over the years but I have never really taken to Hart so much. After sitting through Get Hard, my opinion on Hart hasn't changed but unfortunately I am a little disappointed in Ferrell. Get Hard is the worst comedy I have ever seen Ferrell star in.

Ferrell plays James King, a wealthy businessman who finds himself facing 10 years in prison on charges of fraud and embezzlement. James has no idea of the dangers he will face in prison and while under house arrest he asks his car-washer Darnell Lewis (Hart) to train him up for prison so that he can take care of himself.

Darnell agrees as long as James is willing to pay him $30,000, money that will give him the opportunity to put his daughter into a better school. Darnell's teaching methods put James in a number of ridiculous scenarios but they all play a part in helping him 'get hard'.

The one thing that jumped out at me while watching Get Hard is the film feels like it is trying way too hard to be funny and get cheap laughs. It's almost as if the writers were just trying to fit in as many offensive jokes as they possibly could, not really making for great viewing.

Comedy is at its best when done more subtly than it is done here. It's quite fitting that my favourite joke was when Darnell explains over dinner how he got sent to prison, itself a retelling of Boyz N The Hood, to an oblivious James. Such a shame the rest of the film lacks in this subtlety.

Which leads me on the performances of Ferrell and Hart themselves. Chemistry is important in a comedy and Ferrell has had some great on-screen partnerships over the years including John C. Reilly and Mark Wahlberg. Ferrell and Hart share little-to-no chemistry in Get Hard and it ends up being more of a contest to see who can scream the loudest.

Some will find this film very funny but then I'm sure some will just go along and laugh because they are big Will Ferrell or Kevin Hart fans. It's nowhere near as funny as it could and probably should have been though.

Verdict: 1.5/5