Get Hard

Get Hard - 100 min - R

I'm lukewarm on Will Ferrell's work. His brand of comedy doesn't always match my taste. I was really drawn to it because of Kevin Hart. He is a rising star and his humor has intrigued me. Their collaboration seems to work but the movie had a mix of cringe worthy and full belly laugh moments. More cringe than I care for really. It also had a homophobic vibe. For these reasons I am giving it a yellow light. Will Ferrell fans will like it, I was on the "meh" side.

James (Will Ferrell) is a big shot hedge fund manager who is convicted of fraud. He has a big house and a very expensive fiancee, Alissa (Alison Brie). He knows in 30 days he is going to be serving hard time for 10 years. The only Black person he knows is Darnell (Kevin Hart), the guy who washes his car. Assuming because Darnell is Black, he has spent time in prison, James hires Darnell to teach him how to survive in prison.

The major theme of the story is James not wanting to go to jail. As a character he confuses me. He’s a brilliant trader and can see the trends and makes money hand over fist. I imagine in that work he can link things together. So he completely trusting his father in-law and not suspecting him seems disingenuous. However Will Ferrell plays the completely clueless person so very well that perhaps that is what they were going for.

It was funny watching Darnell abuse James. In his attempt to get James ready for prison, they try and toughen him up. He goes to parks and picks fights with people and tries to physically work out. Nothing seems to work, So Darnell has to level with James. He is going to have to learn to become a bitch. So they go to a gay pick-up spot and because he is faced with his biggest fear, a homosexual act, he find a new motivation to become ready and work harder and becoming... wait for it… harder, pun intended because that’s what the biggest continuous joke is in the movie.

There was a lot of time spent getting him ready for prison and only in the last section of the last act do they think to try and prove his innocence. It really feels like an afterthought on how to tie up the story. It would have been better to have more balance in all of the story lines. One of the biggest things I appreciate in a film is the growth of a character. James does go through a change and walks away from the film with a new point of view.

Darnell is a little under developed. His motivation is to get enough money to get his daughter into a better school district. I totally understand that and as a father I can sympathize with his motivation. He plays along with James to get what he wants but there is nothing that he walks away with no lesson learned.

Kevin Hart can take on more as an actor. This role was a little under his skill level. I saw one of his stand-ups and he is incredible. I guess what kept this movie from a red light were his parts. I think he has the ability to carry the right project.

Do you have a favorite performer who you think is ready to take the next step?

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues "Super-sized Version"

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues - 119+ min - Not Rated

It is not a surprise that I am not a fan of this kind of humor. I reviewed this on Netflix for Web Wombat. They did an outstanding job it was good work, just not my thing. Steve Carell has to be my favorite part with Kristen Wig.  Will Ferrell is hit or miss with me I do like him in some stuff.

The one cool thing about this is that it is a different move from the theatrical release. If you enjoyed that version you have to see this one, because its the same film only not. Just watch it you’ll see.

What was your favorite part?

The Campaign

The Campaign – 85min – R

What better time to have a movie about a political race than right now? Unfortunately people are so tired of the political back and forth that seeing a move that lampoons this real life event just does not get enough steam. Sure, there are some truly funny parts but the overall tone of the movie is so over the top and contrived that it loses something in its delivery. This movie barely gets yellow light vote from me. It needs to have a recall election of the story and just focus on the things that make it funny.

Cam Brady (Will Ferrell) is a senator and has been for a while because he runs unopposed. His campaign manager, Mitch (Jason Sudeikis), has an easy time every election year -- just keep Cam out of trouble. Two evil CEOs known as “The Motch Brothers,” Glenn and Wade (John Lithgow and Dan Aykroyd) , see an opportunity to bring their sweat shop from overseas and place it in Cam’s district to save shipping cost. They set up a gullible Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis) to run against him. The Motch brothers hope to put a puppet in power to give them access to DC regulators. They hire Tim Wattley (Dylan McDermott) to run Marty’s campaign. The race is on and no trick is too dirty.

My biggest problem with this movie is that there are no likeable main characters. The only one that I like is Mitch and he is only a side character. Cam is a dirt bag and embraces it. Marty is way over the top in his oddities and I found him annoying. The Motch brothers are slimy and completely despicable. I know this is a comedy that thrives on being overly absurd in its lampooning of the political process but there was no one to feel for.

Jay Roach is an interesting case study, his comedies are good the first go around, his stories get diminishing returns the more sequels that he does. Austin Powers was good, but the sequels were more of the same and did not grow the story any. Meet the parents is another example of how a great first movie does well and the second one was less impressive and lets not talk about the third one. This time his first go at this story was lacking more in the writing than the execution of the film.

I have to say that a little part of my soul dies every time I laugh at the baby getting punched. I just can’t help myself. it was a very funny bit and an excellent call back to that same baby with a shiner toward the end of the movie. They also did a very sloppy job of editing the film. There were continuity errors in many scenes. It was a mess of shots kind of thrown together. For instance they had a character with their hand up waving in the close up and then the long shot their hands down. The dialog indicated that no time had passed. Sloppy

Warring Spoilers!!!!!!! Only members of the election staff are allowed past this link. !!!!!!

Even in a comedy, the plans of the bad guys need to make sense. The Motch brothers are completely absurd in their plan. They seem to forget that they really only have to apply pressure on Cam and they can get what they want. If the came in and supported him from the start he would have been in their pocket and everything would have been fine.

Another note on the poor editing was the nipple slip scene. Guys, if you are going to have a partially bare nipple in the shot, realize it’s going to be the focus of the audience. In the first part of the scene it was barely showing, and then it would slip lower, then higher and lower with each edit. I was focused on it, err Distracted, I mean distracted by it, really the edits were that distracting, /Blush……/Whistle

Cam giving up his seat to Marty was completely out of character. He did not have enough time to develop a soul to actually truly warrant the selfless act. I would have him win, keep the seat and then take on the Marty honesty shtick and hire him on as the chief of staff. Motch brothers get screwed, people have a sappy feel-good ending and the characters stay true to their nature.

What is your favorite political move?