Review of Get Hard (2015) by Jeff B — 13 May 2015

Missing a great opportunity to take a provocatively Hard look at class and race under a satiric microscope, Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart's team-up takes a softball approach to both that neither completely wastes their talents nor presents an out-and-out laugh-riot. Even at 30 years and counting, Trading Places accomplishes this brand of comedy much better. Most of the bits and exchanges in Get Hard prove too broad to offer pointed commentary on a Recession-embattled society where inequality remains part of the daily discussion. Post-Bernie Madoff and post-Ferguson America is ripe for the riffing but Get Hard mostly goes for low blows rather than smart upper cuts, reducing ethnic groups and tax brackets to mere caricatures. Honestly, the movies too forgettable to come off as offensive. Luckily, a few funny scenes eke out of this formulaic organ grinder, largely thanks to the talent involved.

In this R-rated comedy, San Quentin-bound millionaire James King (Ferrell) gets nailed for fraud, so he turns to pretend-ex-con Darnell Lewis (Hart) to prep him to go behind bars.

Yes, Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart reach into their usual bag of tricks for laughs. They perform the same tried and true shtick that garnered them raves for Old School and Ride Along and raspberries for The Campaign and The Wedding Ringer. For the most part, the chemistry works...if only because they're both pulling their comedic punches as if on a schoolyard, sophomoric to the last. With better material, this twosome couldve been funnier but with a juvenile title like Get Hard you were wrong to expect anything else than gross-out humor and knockabout pratfalls.

Bottom line: Limp Biscuits.