GET HARD - REVIEW

Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart team up in Get Hard, a movie which sounds silly and is, indeed, just as silly as it sounds.

The film sees Ferrell play a clueless rich dude who is one day accused of financial foul play and is promptly sentenced to 10 years in prison. In the days leading up to him being sent there, he hires the help of a car wash owner (Hart), under the incorrect assumption that he once went to prison, to help him "get hard" (as in get tough) so he can somehow survive his time behind bars. One long training montage later, the film rushes to a predictable third act and the title's double-entendre is hammered into our heads one last time just in case you forget Get Hard as soon as you leave the cinema. Which is not impossible, by the way. That's pretty much it, really, but luckily both Ferrell and Hart are charismatic and funny enough to keep you entertained throughout.

The film does have some really good ideas and, at its best, it's like watching an updated Trading Places-style comedy. At its worst, unfortunately, it's borderline homophobic crass. An entire sequence is dedicated to Kevin Hart telling Will Ferrell to go find a gay man, any gay man and give him a blow-job as practice for what's waiting for him in prison. There's a joke in there somewhere but that whole scene just comes off as embarrassing for all involved and overall misguided. Hart's increasingly absurd attempts at training Ferrell and the latter's mindless interpretations of said attempts, however, do provide some fun moments. Even then, you get the feeling that both actors would have been better served in a smarter flick with a sharper script.

While Get Hard does have its moments, it is still little more than a weak effort which just happens to have two strong comedic performances at its heart.

Ironically limp.