Writing reviews for comedies can be difficult when compared to thrillers or indeed horrors. A comedic film generally deals in a less serious subject matter, or it takes a light-hearted approach to a serious topic meaning that you can switch your brain off while you enjoy the onscreen antics. With comedies there are less themes which emerge meaning that you have very little to sound profound and pompous about. With more serious films it is easier to believe that these are real people and not just actors playing roles. In comedies the performances are normally just an extension of the actors own routine. Take Will Ferrell for example, who plays James King, one of my favourite comedy actors and star of many of the funniest films for the last fifteen years. You know what you’re getting with a Will Ferrell flick, laugh out loud moments sandwiched in between awkward Larry David/Ricky Gervais style comedy that will be full of quotable lines. Kevin Hart, who portrays Darnell Lewis, has become so popular that every comedy script probably gets thrown his way. That means he’ll probably pick a few lemons from time to time, case in point being the god awful The Wedding Ringer.
The premise of Get Hard is a solid one, which sees a member of the 1% club teamed up with a “lowly proletariat” who normally wouldn’t even get the time of the day, which makes this film the perfect odd couple/buddy film. A mega rich hedge fund manager is wrongly convicted of tax fraud. The guy is a douche but not on the same level as some of his real life – and definitely guilty – counter parts á la Bernie Madoff. Instead of getting sent to a plushy minimum security holiday club, James King is sent to San Quentin, one of the America’s notoriously tough penitentiaries. He has thirty days before getting sent to prison and in order to prepare he recruits Darnell Lewis who he mistakes for a tough ex con that knows the system. Ferrell’s character is an out of touch millionaire who assumes because Darnell is black that he his “street”. Seeing the opportunity to make some money, Hart’s character keeps up the façade of being a tough black guy from the “hood”.
The film has a wry charm to it that you just don’t get with other comedies. Despite the racist stereotypes it really does give you an insight into the class structures at play in American society. Those who have the money, the 1%, don’t see themselves as being the problem, they are simply living the American dream, and those who cannot attain it are just stupid and deserve the lifestyle they have. Ferrell’s King brings this across to stunning effect making this film a stand out among its contemporaries. Get Hard is easily one of the funniest films of 2015 so far and I command you to go and watch it.
James Owens 