Der Knastcoach

Get Hard was a film I really wasn't expecting to like much, but it was significantly funnier than I expected it to be. Will Ferrell's films have had a tendency to be a bit like Russian Roulette as of late, but this one is fortunately one with no bullet in the chamber. Ferrell plays James, a market trader with (in some people's books) an idyllic life: beautiful house, beautiful fiancée (the boss's daughter) and more money that Trump could shake a stick at.

But the idyll is shattered when he is arrested and then convicted of corruption on a massive scale. Wanting to set a public example , the judge sentences him to the delights of San Quentin and James has 30 days to "Get Hard" before being thrown to the mercy of the inmates. Helping him in the task is Kevin Hart ("Ride Along") who, primarily for reasons of personal financial gain, pretends to be much more 'street' than he really is.

What I enjoyed about this film was the leisurely set up of character and plot before the real comedy (the 'training') kicked in. This is where Ferrell and Hart really work together well, and I thought Hart was excellent in his role. Also good to see Craig T. Nelson ("Poltergeist", "Blades of Glory") back on the big screen as James's boss.

There are few films where I have guffawed out loud so much at certain points: some really good visual slapstick humour. However, the film will be far from everyone's tastes, with some very close to the knuckle jokes. In particular things come to a 'head', as it were, with some mano-a-mano action between Ferrell and Matt Walsh ("VEEP", "Into the Storm"), where the crudometer gets cranked up to "Farrelly". The film is also let down by a weak ending and if there was a joke to be had in the last line of the film, it completely flew over my head.

Recommended for some good belly laughs for the broad minded.

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James King (Will Ferrell) is a wealthy stockbroker with a seemingly perfect and enviable lifestyle (big house, hot girlfriend etc). However, things come to a head when evidence is found to show that King has committed acts of fraud and embezzlement. In order to make an example out of him and to show that 'rich people' won't get an easy ride, the judge sentences King to the maximum sentence of 10 years in prison at San Quentin which is one of America's toughest prisons. King isn't prepared for life in prison and based on a conversation that he has with Darnell (Kevin Hart) he makes the assumption that Darnell has been to prison before and King offers to pay Darnell $30,000 dollars to toughen up ready for prison life which King will be facing in the next 30 days. Being hugely in debt and for his family's sake, Darnell agrees to prepare King for life in prison (even though he's never been in prison in his life!!!).

Both Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart have both been hit and miss actor's in my book and therefore I approached this film with some caution and actually feared the worst. However, after watching it I thought it was much better than I expected it to be - although it isn't without it's fair share of problems....

The storyline is fairly generic and there's definitely a whiff of Trading Places about it (it only really steals one aspect from that film rather than feeling like a 'rip-off' of that film). If you're expecting to see much originality in the material then you're going to be a little disappointed - quite a bit of the material is recycled prison clichés and much of this is witnessed when Darnell puts King through his toughening up boot-camp.

Despite some of these problems there were some parts of the film that got some big laughs from me; I couldn't help but laugh at the scenes where King tries to pick fights with people at the park (with one scene where he picks on an old man and gets his ass kicked). I also loved the part where Martin (Craig T Nelson) is talking about how he built his successful business with just a computer, hard work and an $8,000,000 loan from his dad - it doesn't sound that funny when it's put in writing, but the way Nelson delivers the gag does make it funny. It's stuff like this that helps to take the edge of the cruder stuff that is witnessed at other moments in the film.

Another strength with this film lies with the performances of Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart. The former is actually very good at acting as a 'whiny' jerk (perhaps too good), but in a film like Get Hard this style of acting works to his advantage and it really is hard not to laugh at some of the things that he says and does here. Hart is not someone who I've been too kind to in the past, but I think that I've never really seen him in a role that I've felt that he can put his own stamp on (until now). In some ways I thought that Hart steals the show here and in some ways seeing a much smaller figure like Hart being physically dominant over someone as large as Ferrell somehow made the scenario funnier to me. Both these actors share brilliant chemistry together and in some ways their physical humour and terrific performances overcome the fairly weak story.

I've been generally positive with this film so far but I think it's important to draw your attention to some weaknesses with the film. Whilst it clearly relies on race issues to carry it in the early stages it always feels palatable (a basic misunderstanding based on 'race' is what lead to King making his assumption). This, for me, was tolerable in order to set the story up, but later in the film it starts to go off the rails a little bit by providing us with some forced and unnecessary moments (I felt that the scenes with The Crenshaws and The Alliances Of Whites) were a little too much and I don't feel that they were particularly necessary. It's also predictable and isn't funny often enough for me to be able to shout its praise from the rooftops.

With all that being said though, some of the material is funny, Ferrell and Hart are both excellent here and the chemistry between the two men is first-rate. It's not brilliant, but on the same note it was funny enough for me.

Get Hard (2015)

*** (out of 4)

Millionaire James King (Will Ferrell) gets ten years in prison for a crime he didn't commit but he still needs to learn how to survive on the inside so he hires Darnell (Kevin Hart) to teach him how to be hard. James thinks just because Darnell is black that he's been in prison but what he doesn't know is that Darnell is just as chicken as him when it comes to fighting.

GET HARD isn't a complete success but there's no question that the two leads are in good form and there are enough laughs that make this worth sitting through. If you're looking for some sort of masterpiece or high-art comedy then you're not going to find it here. There's nothing clean about this movie as it attacks all races, sexes and genders as it pretty much tries to offend anyone and goes for the most obvious and at times graphic jokes that it can. There was some pre-release controversy about some of the stereotype jokes but I think it's safe to say that everyone is insulted so it's fair game.

I think the best thing going for the film is the chemistry between Ferrell and Hart. Both of them work well off of one another and especially whenever the screenplay lets them down. In all honesty, there's not too much here that we haven't seen in other comedies about prison but the two actors take the material and make it much better than it actually is. One of the highlights in the film is when Ferrell is supposed to go up to some tough guys and start a fight. The terror that Ferrell gets across was just hilarious.

The formula is pretty predictable as is the outcome. With that said, I'd guess that only around sixty percent of the jokes actually work but there are enough big ones to make the film worth viewing.

This is a great comedy with a lot of good racial humor, but it is for a narrow audience. If you like racial humor, Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart comedies, and bubble butts, you will love the movie. Although that is a lot of if's and many people will find it too distant from their own life experience to relate to the characters. The scenes are hardly predictable and will definitely surprise if not shock you. Some scenes may drag on for too long, but generally the movie flies by quickly. The acting is good, but for the fans of Will Farrell and Kevin Hart. Also make sure you are in a proper mood for watching an obscene comedy because the jokes will not spare you!

Which is the title the movie got in Germany (for a change it's not an English title, but in German). Considering the comedy talent at hand, I understand that some might be disappointed in this. But it's still decent enough, even with some mediocre jokes thrown in there from time to time. Not to mention the fact, that this is as predictable as it gets (story wise that is).

Not sure if the jokes about homosexuality work most of the time either, but you have to give/cut them some slack for trying (while not dumbing them down too much). The word play is there (see title), which is played out pretty nicely in one particular scene (turning point sort of). Don't expect too much and you'll be entertained