The premise for Get Hard hinges on characters either falling for or deliberately perpetrating stereotypes; the success of the film, I think, will be in getting past those stereotypes, and puncturing them with some sharp gags along the way. It's impossible to know from a trailer just how the film is going to shake out on that front, but there's certainly enough clues here that the film is self aware. Etan Cohen has never directed a feature before but he's had some success as a screenwriter, and he's got some good back-up on the crew. A word of warning before you watch this new 'red band' promo, though. This is wash-your-mouth-out stuff, and you wouldn't want to play this in the office, at your grandma's birthday party or when Ned Flanders has just popped round to borrow a cup of sugar. There's even a surprise boob attack. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBmfMaQY56s I'm starting to get a handle on Kevin Hart's screen persona, and how important it is to many of his characters that he's quite a short fella. On the other hand, we're all aware enough of Will Ferrell's schtick that it's never hard to predict where he's going. Thankfully, the combination of Kevin Hart doing Kevin Hart and Will Ferrell doing Will Ferrell is a fresh one and Get Hard might just be able to milk it for a lot of laughs. Get Hard will be released into both UK and US cinemas on March 27th.
Brendon Connelly has been a film writer since the early 90s, with time on the staff of Orbit Magazine, Slashfilm, Bleeding Cool, Den of Geek and many more. He's a long time teacher of film studies and practical filmmaking classes, and has directed music videos, commercials, short films and more. His favourite film is Terry Gilliam's Brazil, his favourite food is pancakes or crepes, and he tries to live his life by the teachings of Kermit the Frog.
