It’s got some of comedy’s big names, but will Get Hard get us laughing or groaning at its stereotype jabs?
Get Hard is a comedy that might make you very angry.
It stars comedian Kevin Hart (Scary Movie 3 and 4, The Wedding Ringer) as honest small business-owner Darnell Lewis, who has never so much as received a parking fine in his life.
But he finds himself helping millionaire manager James King, played by Will Ferrell (Elf, The Campaign), prep for a tough life in prison. King has been nailed for fraud and turns to Lewis, an African-American, assuming that the latter has had ample experience against the law.
This storyline alone has struck the American audience as somewhat racist – but there’s more.
Outdated Stereotypes
It turns out that what King is really afraid of in prison isn’t the physical stress, but being sexually assaulted by other inmates.
In one scene, he tries to force himself to be attracted to men, but fails miserably and collapses in a sobbing heap. Imagining the talented and comical Ferrell in such a situation makes for some laughs, but it’s rubbed many viewers the wrong way since its US release.
Get Hard isn’t so forgiving on racial jabs either. Ferrell later befriends a gang of African-Americans, and educates them by saying, “The stockmarket is gangsta.”
At a question-and-answer session at the South by Southwest Film Festival in America, one audience member told director Etan Cohen: “As a fellow Jew, I’ve got to say that this film seemed racist as [expletive].”
It’s Only Satire
But if you take it at face value – and watch Get Hard as a simple slapstick buddy comedy – then perhaps you can find some humour in it after all.
Responding to the offended viewer, Cohen said that the movie is actually trying to mock stereotypes in today’s society.
You might be able to detect this if you stay until the end of the show, when the two men discover how wrong they were about a lot of things, including each other.
Plus, Get Hard has a host of successful comedy puppetmasters in its production crew. Cohen is known for his work on comedies Tropic Thunder and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. Along for the ride are The Hangover Part III’s Maher Ahmad as production designer and editor Michael Sale from We’re the Millers.
So take it with a pinch of salt, and it may be hard to get mad at Ferrell and Hart’s silly antics after all.
By Pamela Chow
Get Hard [TBA]
Director: Etan Cohen
Starring: Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, Alison Brie, Craig T. Nelson
Genre: Comedy
Run length: TBA
Release: Mar 26
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