Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain

8/10

Unlike my other favorite comedian, Louis C.K., Kevin Hart is somewhat of a formulaic comedian. While that is absolutely not a bad thing at all, it is to be noted that a bulk of his material comes from 3 main topics, all of which he expands on so amazingly well:

1. He will dissect common relationship problems that most everyone can relate to

2. He will state a certain trait of his character and tell a story as to why he became that way

3. He will state a somewhat uncommon fear of his and tell a story about the origin of that fear

After watching all of his previous stand ups, it did begin to get somewhat predictable because of it's overly unbelievable nature. This is not to say that I wasn't laughing like crazy throughout all of them.

When I heard about this special being theatrically released I knew I was going to see on opening night. Not much is to be said about anything other than the fact that the whole theater was roaring with laughter for 90% of the time.

Now back to the formula; Kevin did adhere to it here and there, but I think the reason everyone enjoyed this so much was because he threw in a mix of tiny little 2-3 minute segments that had really nothing to do with anything and it just worked. He veered off a bit from talking about himself or about relationships and he just started talking about people in general and the way we are with one another.

In general, I think this was his best one yet. I think his formula is one of the more advanced and genuinely true ways to intrigue people. Even though it is a comedy special, and you don't quite know exactly how much of it is true or false, Kevin Hart has a great way of connecting through to the audience on a more personal level through the way he talks about himself and his relationships.

He is comedic genius and will one day be legendary.

8/10

'KEVIN HART: LET ME EXPLAIN': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

A stand-up comedy concert film featuring comedian Kevin Hart doing material from his 2012 'Let Me Explain' comedy tour. It was filmed in front of a sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden and directed by Leslie Small and Tim Story. The movie also features clips from other shows on Hart's tour as well. If you're a fan of Kevin Hart's stand-up comedy you'll probably enjoy the movie but if you're not in to his comedy style (like me) than you probably won't get a kick out of it (it's as simple as that).

The movie opens with Kevin Hart talking to his friends at a party trying to explain his relationship troubles and current success. As he becomes frustrated with trying to explain himself he gets the idea of doing a show at Madison Square Garden where he can explain himself to everyone. He then rushes to a show there right away. The film shows clips of other concerts on his tour before playing the Madison Square Garden show in it's entirety.

I like Kevin Hart in movies, I think he's a very funny and likable actor, but seeing his stand-up comedy for the first time (in this movie) I was not impressed. I think he talks too fast and acts too much like a spaz to be relatable at all. His jokes are OK but nothing 'laugh out loud' hilarious. To be fair I'm not a big fan of most stand-up comedy in general; there are very few comedians who can really make me laugh. So I wouldn't say Hart is much worse than anyone else. I wasn't impressed with this film though.

Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-D0yOH-Zx4

If you can skip past the first 16 minutes of His Narcissistic Introduction, You will find a stand-up routine that is Fresh and comparable to an early Eddy Murphy without all the Raunch. Kevin manages to explain his bad boy image in a way that has you rolling in laughter and agreeing with his views, all the while endearing himself to his audience. His complete Honesty about Lying is so over the top, you start to believe Telling a Lie is an Art Form and you have been doing it wrong all along. Because of his humor, You just can't help but love him for all of his faults, even if he's a Pathological Comedy Genius!

I wish I could give this a better rating, but I can't. There was a bunch of unfunny nonsense in the beginning of the film and then a documentary style bit following Kevin on his world tour. The stuff worth watching comes about a half an hour into the movie, when we actually get to the stand-up portion. This part of the movie was very funny, but I ask myself, "why fill this movie with fluff at the beginning?" I know Hart is funny, he should have put more material into this movie and it could have been a home run. It wasn't a bad movie - don't get me wrong, but my advice is wait until it comes to Netflix,DVD or on demand so that you can use your fast forward button.

Kevin Hart's Let Me Explain is an interesting conundrum.

On one hand you have another great hour of comedy from one of the better stand-up comics in the business today.

But on the other hand we have a muddled production with choppy editing, sloppy directing, and poor sound mixing that prevents this comedic movie from aging with the greats like Raw, Live on the Sunset Strip, and Himself.

What also hurts Let Me Explain is the short running time, the extremely egotistical preshow, and the failed skit in the beginning of the entire thing. If Hart can simply manage to stretch his material a little longer and delete all the extra fluff then he would be a little closer of reaching the comedic Rushmore of Pryor, 80s Murphy, Rock, and my main man George Carlin. He still has a ways to go though.

If you are a Kevin Hart fan, then you will not be disappointed. He once again spits out quick funny anecdotes, throws in a couple great catchphrases, and is never afraid of making fun of himself. He once again dedicates plenty of time to talking about women and relationship clichés; and these moments provide the biggest laughs because he takes the moments we can all relate to and stretch them into exaggeratory measures to successful jokes. He also has this likability factor that allows for him to control the crowd and never lose them, not for a single second.

And then we have all the technical issues. First off for a Madison Square Garden the audience was quite quiet. Was it the jokes not hitting? No, it's that the sound editing focused pretty much 95% on Hart, leaving the movie sounding quieter than it should. Part of a good comedic concert is listening to the audience react to the stories and collectively understand the verbal motions of one individual. Remember the epic battles Richard Pryor had against his audience on Sunset Strip? With this production staff we never would have truly enjoyed it.

As a matter of fact, it was tough to enjoy anything in the first fifteen minutes. The opening skit was uneven, just like the last one in Laugh at my Pain. And then it was followed by a sequence that should have been kept for the closing credits. The movie needed 20 minutes to truly get going. Jerry Seinfeld once said that usually comedians have only one minute to catch the audience otherwise he/she fails. The only reason why Kevin Hart was allowed 20 is because his material over the years has been consistently funny, and we all secretly knew that no matter how lame the material with his buddies are, it would all be forgiven once he steps up on the mic...even if the first act drags miserably.

But Kevin seriously, drop your friends. They may have supported you, but that doesn't mean squat if it hinders your movies.