Starring: Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, Alison Brie
Director: Etan Cohen
Genre: Comedy
Running time: 100 minutes
Now showing at Century Cinemax, Acacia Mall, Kisementi and Cinema Magic, Metroplex Mall, Naalya
Kevin Hart and Will Ferrell are two comedians who are loved and loathed almost in equal measure, in Uganda at least. This is going by the comments on a forum where the poster for Get Hard was posted. Some people could not wait to watch the movie because of one of the actors while others said their jokes are annoying, and this was before they even watched the movie – talk about judging a movie by its actors.
The actors play James King (Farrell) and Darnell Lewis (Hart). King is a hedge fund manager living the good life while Lewis washes cars for a living and dreams about moving his family from the bad hood they live in. As it happens in movies where hedge fund managers feature these days, King is accused of embezzling money and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He is, however, granted 30 days to put his affairs in order. In that time, he comes to see his fiancée, Alissa for the gold-digger she is and the fact that he is not hard enough to survive prison.
To take care of the later problem, King hires Lewis, who he had met earlier, to help him toughen up for life in the coolers. He assumes Lewis has been to prison because he is black, and since there is $30,000 (Shs90m) to gain, Lewis plays along, never mind that the only knowledge he has about going to prison is from the movie, Boyz N The Hood. What follows is a series of shenanigans that will get you either laughing or rolling your eyes at the absurdity.
Your reaction will depend on your tolerance for comedy that follows stereotypes, so much so that some scenes may not be as funny as they could have been. The actors, especially Ferrell struggles to be funny. While Hart also struggles in some places, there is something about him that makes you laugh even when you didn’t mean to. That said, it is not surprising that the movie has not been well received.