Kevin Hart: What Now?

Kevin Hart: What Now is a really funny comedy special that's padded to feature length by some unwanted scripted sketches which bookend it. Halle Berry is always a welcome presence who exudes grace effortlessly and Don Cheadle is having fun but these scenes are undoubtedly filler. However, there's still a few good jokes in these bits thanks to a scene parodying The Equalizer and a neat gag involving subtitles.

The special itself is actually more than funny enough to sustain its run time. The material can get surprisingly personal when he talks about his greatest shame surrounding his sex life and the best moments come from the stories that sound unreal. He returns to some of his biggest punchlines a bit too much in this one but those bits work more often than they don't and the backdrops changing to match his jokes works with them.

Comedian Kevin Hart's career to date has been a mixed bag. He has made millions laugh with his stand-up act (in comedy clubs and on tour), on television and in the movies – sometimes as a supporting character and sometimes as the star – including, of course, his concert films featuring his stand-up. He has written and produced for TV and movies (mostly, but not exclusively, for himself). His comedy projects have consistently made handsome profits, but have received mixed reviews from critics and, in some cases, audiences. As someone who tries to maintain the balance between movie reviewer and Movie Fan, here's how I see Kevin Hart's effectiveness in some of his films: "Grudge Match", "The Wedding Ringer", "Get Hard" – funny. "Ride Along", "Ride Along 2", "Central Intelligence" – mildly amusing. His 2016 concert movie "Kevin Hart: What Now?" (R, 1:36) – not funny. Please, let me explain.

Kevin Hart's 2016 concert film opens with a significant, but irrelevant sequence in which he plays a James Bond type of character (opposite Halle Berry) and participates in a high-stakes poker game, a la Daniel Craig's first Bond outing, "Casino Royale". In this opener for Hart's film (basically a movie within a movie), production values are high and the acting is good (including cool cameos by Don Cheadle and others), but there are few laughs and the whole thing has almost nothing to do with what comes next.

After his spy adventure, Hart appears at a packed Lincoln Financial Field (home of the NFL's Eagles) in Philadelphia where he performs his usual type of stand-up routine – with some social and political commentary and a whole lot of stories and jokes based on his family life and other personal experiences – all infused with his signature brand of physical comedy. Most of his jokes come from how ridiculous he thinks the members of his family are – and what people would be like if they were deprived of various parts of their body (e.g. arms and legs, shoulders, etc.) due to a variety of extraordinary mishaps.

Of course, this being a comedy concert film, there are plenty of shots of people in the crowd laughing at Hart's antics and repeating some of the lines he uses. He performs with nothing but a mic and a stool, but is backed up by large video screens with images illustrating some of the stories he tells. Then, at the end of his routine, there's a brief scene in which Hart picks up where he left off with Halle Berry and seems to be teasing a future project – basically answering the question posed in his concert film's title.

The movie commits the greatest possible sin of a comedy concert film – not being very funny. The laughs from Hart's live audience were seldom echoed in the crowded theater where I saw the movie. No wonder. Comedy usually plays better in person than on a screen – and people are more primed to enjoy comedy the more time and money they spend to see it (as in, the cost of a live show that you went to in a large venue, versus a cheaper ticket in a comparatively small movie theater), but the main problem with this film is the comedy itself. Hart talks at length about far-fetched situations that are more bizarre than funny. He also refers to his family members (father, children and fiancé) in ways that are more disrespectful than humorous. What's more, much like in his movies, Hart relies too much on his over-the-top facial expressions for laughs. Occasionally entertaining, but rarely laugh-out-loud funny, "Kevin Hart: What Now?" gets a "C-".

I love stand-up specials. I've loved Kevin Hart's stand-up specials so far, even though I have never found his "preshow" and "aftershow" sketches funny at all. He has some again and I gotta tell you, this was so incredibly boring, I barely remember what was it all about. When finally the show started, I got excited - this is where Kevin is powerful. He has a full stadium (!), a great stage, everything looks perfectly prepared. Then, 20 minutes after the start of the show, I realized I haven't even smiled once. I almost forgot I'm not alone in the theater because it was really, REALLY silent. Even the black people next to me were absolutely quiet and were shrugging at the "jokes" - and black people not laughing is a very sad thing for every black comedian.

His jokes were actually stories. 5-minute stories that started from nothing and went nowhere. After an incredibly unfunny 5-minute joke about a woman missing a shoulder, the first 4 people left the theater. And not because it was a dark joke - but because it wasn't funny at all. Kevin was yelling on his golden mic, making poses, yelling again, but was just as funny as a circus clown and that was kinda sad.

Kevin Hart has obviously lost his touch with reality and the money he made got to his head. He was performing as the greatest comedian ever, while he was not even average. If he started out with jokes like these, he'd be getting booed off the stage in 3 minutes.

I have left a theater prematurely only twice in my entire life and this was the third time. It was unbearable. I might download this from somewhere when it comes to DVD just to see how it ends but I ain't paying more for it. Better go to your local comedy club and see an open mic. Most of them will have way better jokes, for sure.

Though What Now? was a better looking comedy movie than his last one Let Me Explain, which makes perfect sense, the comedy routine was not the sharpest Kevin Hart as done.

Speaking of bigger, Kevin Hart's short sketch at the beginning of the concert was just that. Hart parodies James Bond more specifically Casino Royal and does this with special guess the lovely bond girl Halle Berry and Don Cheadele who was hilarious. Hart is pumping his superstar muscle here.

The concert itself was a far bigger stage. The cool part was how some of the images behind him reflected the comedy routine. Far much going on than the pyrotechnics he gave us in Let Me Explain.

But the fire he laid on us was real funny and far more inter graded into the comedy bit. Kevin Hart's gonna make you laugh, that definitely goes without saying. So if you go watch What Now? you got that, but like a Rock Star trying to keep of the momentum (of that money flow), Hart's jokes are a little too safe and generic to hit the gut like he use to.

Bigger better, badder, but not funnier.

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A lot of times I read reviews off of IMDb and almost miss out on good movies because of the bad reviews I've read. That's why I say make your own assumptions. Personally, I laughed hard on Kevin Hart's "What Now" movie. I watched it with my wife and two of my buddies. If you have one of those nights of hanging out, having a couple drinks and want to laugh...then put on this movie. Yeah, he did it different and the first few minutes it's like a movie but even that part was pretty funny.

His stories about being scared, his kids, his dad and so on had me in tears a couple of times.

People today are real uptight and sensitive babies. If you go into this just wanting to laugh then you'll enjoy yourself.

That's all I'll say about that.