Get Hard (2015)

'Get Hard' is a straightforward comedy film - rich white guy gets sentenced to jail for fraud, asks black associate to help him prepare for prison life, hijinks ensue. Obviously, it helps when you have two great comedic leads - Ferrell as James, the meek banker, and Hart as Darnell, the car-wash operator trying to support his family. Hart's on a bit of a roll, film-wise, but this was not quite as enjoyable as 'The Wedding Ringer', but much better than 'Ride Along'.The two stars work so well together, with ultra-short Hart's hyper-energy toned down a little and ultra-tall Ferrell playing a meek, polite man-child. It's not too crass, but there is a bit of swearing as Ferrell tries to learn 'smack talk', which is hilarious. Also - too much of his butt, but that's why it's funny I guess! It's at least counter-balanced by Brie (Annie from 'Community') looking great in a corset.Plenty of laugh-out-loud moments as the 30-day countdown until his imprisonment proceeds, with some nice play on stereotypes throughout. A decent support cast - needed more Ron Funches! - not too long and just ridiculous enough to not get too stupid. Not the best comedy you'll ever see, but far from the worst.

Mildly amusing comedy with Hart and Ferrell doubling up as an adequate double act. Just lacking in originality and repeating tried and tested one liners. I wish Ferrell would play some serious parts as the potential is there as opposed to Hart who seems to be a truly one trick pony who continuously serves up the same performances time after time. If nothing else to watch then it will kill two hours for you but easily forgettable and doubt it would make it onto your film of the year list. Actually prefer Steve Martins simplistic performance in Bringing Down The House which echoes themes here with the straight white guy playing an Ethnic stereotyped gangster. I'm sure there will be a sequel here, but hopefully with some depth to it.

I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed this movie. There were moments when I could not stop laughing but there were also times when the whole thing felt too forced. Will Ferrell tried to shock and gross you out too many times. Kevin Hart on the other hand was hilariously sweet as the family man. He gave energy to the film and stopped it from becoming totally low-brow.The overall story was fairly predicable but there were some nice surprises as well. Maybe if it hadn't been so awkward in places then I could have rated it higher. Also if I see Will Ferrell's butt one more time I will need to gouge out my eyeballs. Not cool.Not a bad movie but not great.

Most of this type of comedy is not what I prefer. I am glad that this one was not what I was expecting."Was it interesting?" The pacing was good. The story was just predictable enough to fit the comedy. There were a few surprises.1.5 out of 3."Was it memorable?" The performances were well done, though the baddies were rather underwhelming. The family dynamic was good.1.5 out of 3."Was it entertaining?" The combination of writing made for these particular comedians was what really helped make this enjoyable.2 out of 3.Starting with 1 (because it's the law), 1 + 1.5 + 1.5 + 2 = 6 A movie I wouldn't mind seeing again, though wouldn't go out of my way to. I would recommend it in passing.