By now, I’m sure most of you reading this are aware of the controversy surrounding Get Hard and its less than savory content. For those untrustworthy of the media and wary of overly-sensitive audiences at SXSW, I can say Get Hard is full of tasteless homophobic and racist jokes that feel completely out of touch and out of place in the contemporary climate of heightened social awareness.
Despite the uproar over the mistreatment (or perceived mistreatment, as some might argue) of the race and sexuality topics, we all know comedies are constantly attempting to push the envelope for laughs. Is this an excuse for the one-note joke that fuels the film’s plot, or some of the machismo “jokes” that portray homosexuality as some disgusting counterculture? Not at all. However, without the controversy lies a comedy begging for laughs that, ultimately, it never delivers.
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Get Hard
Director: Etan Cohen
Rating: R
Release Date: March 27, 2015
James King (Will Ferrell) is a rich businessman convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to a 10-year prison sentence despite never committing any wrongdoing. Worried that he won’t survive prison, he turns to the owner of the carwash he frequents, Darnell Lewis (Kevin Hart), for help after he wrongfully assumes the latter has spent time in prison. Sensing an opportunity to make easy money, Darnell goes along with the facade, entangling James in various hijinks in an attempt to make James hard. Such scenarios include turning James’ mansion into a makeshift maximum security prison, complete with James’ maids and workers taking on roles as prison guards, Darnell introducing James to his gangbanger cousin and his crew, and a sexual encounter with another man at a gay bar.
The film’s title, Get Hard, is enough to determine whether or not you’d enjoy this film. Does the sexual tension behind the title make you laugh at the thought of Kevin Hart attempting to help Will Ferrel “get hard”? If so, this film is for you. And really, what was to be expected of a film with such an obvious joke truly summarizing the film’s tone and direction? It’s one thing to be so obtuse with a film’s subject matter — it’s another thing to take the premise and truly satirize it and provide conscientious, thoughtful commentary on such issues like racism, class disparity, and gay-straight relations. Instead, Get Hard goes for the obvious jokes that, to be honest, can’t even be considered jokes due to their inherent lack of humor.
But again, I’m not the target audience for Get Hard, and as has been made apparent since the film’s premiere at SXSW, neither was Austin’s SXSW audience. That’s fine, as I’m sure there will be Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart fans will flock to Get Hard and laugh at all of the sexual innuendos behind the name, gag in unison with Ferrell as he expresses his disgust over fellating another man, and chalk up all of the controversy surrounding the film to overly-sensitive types that “can’t get a joke.” For the rest of us, we’ll just await the next Judd Apatow film for our Hollywood comedy needs.