Review: Get Hard

When I first heard the premise for Get Hard—white businessman (Will Ferrell) charged with insider trading seeks help from a black man (Kevin Hart) to thug up before going to prison—I thought, "Racist much?"

Then I saw the film's sly joke—that Hart's Darnell Lewis had never been to prison and was, in fact, a mild mannered family man; Ferrell's James King was merely making a wrongheaded assumption about him—and rethought my initial take. Maybe the film will be about examining our racist assumptions and flipping the script on stereotypes.

Turns out, I was right the first time. Because, beyond that one clever joke, Get Hard mostly traffics in broad and offensive racial stereotypes. All the black people outside of Darnell and his (admittedly adorable) family are thugs. All the Hispanic people do yard work for James, and are mostly around for comedic reaction shots. The women don't fare much better: James's sexy fiancée is a gold-digger who dumps him the minute he's in trouble with the law. Later, James hooks up with a black woman who likes to thrust her ass in people's faces. And then there's the film's sexual politics: The big ongoing joke of Get Hard is James's fear of getting raped in prison. A reasonable fear, I suppose, but in this case it translates into a parade of gay panic jokes. There's a protracted scene where James goes to a gay brunch spot and attempts to give a blowjob in a bathroom stall. There's a scene where Hart mimics the sound of being raped by a man. Even the film's title is wielded as a homophobic double entendre. (Darnell got James hard, get it? Comedy!)

So is it funny at all? Look, when you've got the likes of Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart there have to be a few good gags. Ferrell does some inspired terrified weeping. Hart has an unplugged moment where he rapidly imitates all the men James will encounter in prison—it's more of the same in terms of stereotypes, but at least its funny (although even that bit goes on too long). Finally, there's a good riff on Boyz in the Hood, the one moment in the film that genuinely earned its laugh. Maybe they were trying to make a film that dared to be bold and provocative about race. In that case, they really needed to Try Harder.