What do you get if you put Trading Places, 48hrs, Tower Heist and some prison rape jokes in a blender? The answer is something like Get Hard, which stars Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart.
Ferrell plays millionaire, James King who is wrongfully convicted on 76 counts of fraud and embezzlement.
James assumes most black men have spent time in jail, so when the judge gives him 30 days to get his affairs in order, he turns to the only black guy he knows, Darnell (Hart) and offers him money to get him ready for prison.
In fact Darnell is a loving family man and small business-owner, who only accepts the job because he wants to expand his business and buy a better house for his wife and daughter.
After getting a few tips from his criminal cousin, Darrnell then takes on the role of a bullying sergeant major and starts initiating James with the ways of prison.
Get Hard misses more than it hits, it isn’t entirely unfunny and would have done really well in the 1980’s. Will you laugh? Probably. Could this have been a better film? Definitely.
Criticisms of the film aside, Ferrell and Hart have excellent chemistry and I would love to see them work together on another project.