Get Hard (2015), R, ★1/2

Kevin Hart training Will Ferrell how to survive in prison. 

"DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO SURVIVE IN PRISON?"

Will Ferrell: No.

Well, no matter because Kevin Hart will train him. It's almost like Trading Places, a great 1980s comedy with Eddie Murphy and Dan Akyroyd, in a way that two different personalities clash and try to train each other to become the opposite, I think. However, there has to be substance and gravitas to amount to some kind of sympathy towards the characters in retrospect of how charismatic and humorous they are to the film playing in front of an audience. Disappointingly, the movie has too many rape and prison jokes inserted to try to entertain us. 

James King (Will Ferrell) was an extremely wealthy hedge fund manager, engaged to a hot gold-digging fianceé, Alissa (Alison Brie). However, during an engagement party that Alissa hosts and she lets John Mayer on-stage to perform, the cops barge in and arrest James for fraud and embezzlement. James' lawyer, Peter Penny (Greg Germann), urges to have James plead guilty, but he refuses. All of a sudden, all of his clients that lost money in the embezzlement are angry at him and the judge finds him guilty and sentences James to 10 years in prison in San Quentin with 30 days to get his affairs in order.

James encounters Darnell (Kevin Hart), his car washer, in the parking lot and expressing his fear for going to prison. He asks Darnell how he managed in prison because he is black and seamlessly uneducated. To start his "training," Darnell pepper-sprays James upon arriving into his home. He tries to get James to put up his "mad dog" face, however, he just puts up his "sad face". Then, it goes on and on until it comes upon a plot involving James' sentence.

Ms. Alison Brie, I think you're trying to seduce Mr. Ferrell, aren't you?

Boy, ok, this movie has more laughs than I thought thanks to Kevin Hart's comic timing and laid-back performance again. However, it feels like that the movie is a totally missed opportunity because they would gel the movie with two comic performances and talents. They do, at times, but it is the screenplay that is at fault. It is repetitive and full of homophobic jokes, prison rape jokes, oral sex jokes and racist jokes. This is barely a movie. It is basically a "How to Survive in Prison 101: Comedy Edition" movie and it is intolerable. It is an overplayed film that is so juvenile (haha, irony).

Will Ferrell has some moments of humor but overall, it does not come through but it is Kevin Hart that brings out his comic personality that goes through. It also sometimes propels Ferrell's comedy and character forward. Again, unfortunately, it is just tired jokes of homophobia and prison rape. The characters are pretty much stereotypical and predictable such as the hot wife played by Alison Brie and the disapproving father played by Craig T. Nelson. The only fresh addition is Edwina Brinley who plays Hart's wife and brings some nuance and substance but the filmmakers needed to provide more scenes for her.

It is a repetitive review that expresses my disbelief and unhappiness towards this final project because they have better movies in their filmography. There's not much chemistry between Brie and Ferrell and the context in many of the jokes are overplayed and under appreciated. And, when we get to the climax of the film, they just plug in the material just to create more time for the audience to just recline and watch. I'll just spoil a little bit: Someone is behind the embezzlement and it is very obvious who it is. Please, skip this unfortunate film. It is not too awful because there were a few laughs in between and Hart's performance cannot be resisted. But, a better movie with him is The Wedding Ringer.