Will Ferrell's latest comedy, Get Hard, is out on March 26. Here are six reasons why, despite less-than-glowing reviews, the film might be worth seeing.
1. It's a sitcom from the co-writer of Tropic Thunder
At the start of Get Hard, Will Ferrell's privileged, affluent, self-satisfied character James King is sentenced to 10 years in prison for tax evasion. The prospect of being locked up with despicable inmates intent on making his newly confined world a misery – it's a nightmare scenario most right-minded people could not even imagine. Facing desperate situations with dark humour is a comedy staple, however, and the good news is that Get Hard's co-writer/director, Etan Cohen, was a co-writer on the hugely entertaining Vietnam War comedy Tropic Thunder. That film famously – and successfully – satirised the absurdities in Robert Downey Jnr's character "blacking up" for his role in the film within the film, which brings us to …
2. Its racial politics are confrontational rather than controversial
Given that the entire premise is a wealthy white man (Ferrell) hiring an African-American car-wash owner (Kevin Hart) to prepare him for prison – on the assumption that he is black and so must have done time behind bars – there have naturally been some concerns that Get Hard is racist. But Ferrell told The Independent that he specifically wanted to portray someone who is "ignorant about how the world works".
"As long as the characters realised that the previous things that they said [were wrong], once they come around to that realisation, then we were safe to kind of go anywhere," Ferrell told the New York Daily News.
3. Amid all the jokes about Ferrell's character being abused in prison, there are some serious political subtexts
Well, sort of. Not many people go to a Will Ferrell movie expecting a Wolf Of Wall Street-style comment on excess and Ferrell admits he first and foremost set out to make a funny film.
"That being said," he told The Independent, "I do think there's definitely a perception that people in banking or Wall Street get away with a lot of stuff and so that's what we're commenting on, too."
The International Business Times also notes that the movie "brilliantly depicts the prison system's preferential treatment of white-collar criminals, the way we look at financial institutions as bad guys post-Lehman Brothers and the privilege of ignorance in Ferrell's character".
4. James King is another classic Will Ferrell character
Ferrell has made a career of taking characters we immediately recognise – such as newsreader Ron Burgundy in Anchorman, or an overly confident sports star (in Blades of Glory and Talladega Nights) – and ramping up their idiosyncrasies to ridiculous levels.
James King is very much in that vein – all arrogance and swagger which, when misplaced, lends itself to plenty of comic potential. Throw in Ferrell’s stock-in-trade exaggerated reactions (his sad-dog routine is the standout moment in the trailer), and it feels like he’s really enjoyed creating yet another monster.
5. Ferrell's been pushing Get Hard, hard
We're never quite sure whether Ferrell's increasingly ridiculous public antics in the run-up to one of his new films are because he's proud of them (Elf, Anchorman), or worried that they'll sink without trace (Semi-Pro, Casa De Mi Padre).
We'll give him the benefit of the doubt this time around and say the former, which is why recently he played every position on a baseball field – as we reported in The National last week. He also appeared in a full Irish leprechaun-style outfit on the St Patrick's Day edition of Letterman and then followed that up by wearing a dress and straw hat on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
6. It can't really be as bad as the critics are saying, can it?
OK, this isn't a reason to go and see Get Hard necessarily, but given that the early reviews haven't exactly been glowing, there's always the old fallback: curiosity about a film that potentially has the "so bad, it's good" factor.
Still, it’s worth noting that the widely discussed concerns about weak writing and massive stereotyping mostly surround the allegations that the film is racist – and if Kevin Hart has told the critics “if you don’t like it, what I want you to do is go in the middle of the street and kill yourself”, then that’s a decent enough indication that he is comfortable with its race-related jokes and message.
The general consensus is that Get Hard definitely has its moments. Possibly just not quite enough of them. Make up your own mind, as the film is out now at cinemas across the country.
artslife@thenational.ae
