Etan Cohen’s Get Hard, a riff-ready vehicle for Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart, walks a very dangerous line. It’s an R-rated comedy film that is centered on racism, homophobia, stereotypes, and an open hatred of the upper crust, but eventually falls somewhere in a warm-and-fuzzy, all-men-can-be-friends-if-they-just-try-to-understand-each-other matrix. The bright tone and a few (but just a few) genuine moments (mostly from Hart) nearly undo the film’s deliberately racist premise, and go a long way to covering up the inherent homophobia in the premise.
Ferrell plays a financially successful blueblood stockbroker named James, who is arrested for embezzlement right on the eve of his marriage to a hot young thing, and his inevitable move into a much, much bigger house. In the 30 days leading up to his 10-year incarceration at San Quentin, James elects to hire his good-soul car washer Darnell (Hart) to “train” him for prison life. Darnell has never been to prison, but the affably ignorant James assumes he has by virtue of his race. Darnell, desperate for money that would take his daughter out of a bad neighborhood, gamely if ignorantly, teaches James about constructing shivs, protecting your territory, and allying yourself with the right prison yard gangs. James’ ultimate goal is to avoid being raped. This is the natural assumption that both men hold. San Quentin is a hotbed for rapists who love to victimize soft white men.
Yes, there is a huge, sticky undercurrent of homophobia to that premise. This film posits that being violated in prison, while surely not the rosiest of fates, is still a much worse fate than getting killed. In one scene, Darnell takes James to a gay brunch mixer known for its bathroom hookups just to teach James the horrors of man-on-man fellatio. The fear of actually going through with it teaches James to buck up and take his training seriously. Gay panic flows openly from the screen. At least the one gay character is seen as being lovelorn and well-spoken rather than as a flouncy predatory whore. He’s nowhere near as horrid a stereotype as the current record-holder for offensive gay stereotypes, Chip, the gay psychic from the loathsome 2013 film A Haunted House.
Ferrell is a performer who has always rubbed me the wrong way. His clueless doofus schtick seems to be based deliberately on how unfunny he can be, and how self aware he isn’t. His characters are all screaming, bawling toddlers trapped in the body of sexually active adult narcissists. He uses display of his large, pasty pale body as a source of comedy far too often. His role in Get Hard is no departure. He is so cartoonishly awful, and his character is so unbelievably broad (even real-life clueless people don’t behave like this bozo), that I find myself repelled by his awkwardness and irritated by his ignorance. Will Ferrell’s brand of comedy, when left unchecked, is simply not funny. And I think I’ve seen enough “comedic” depictions of his meaty thighs, shapeless buttocks, and barrel chest to last me the rest of my life.
Luckily in Get Hard, Farrell is tempered and grounded by Hart, an affable and easy screen presence who seems to be maturing as a performer with each passing film, no matter how mediocre it may be (Hart was also the best thing about The Wedding Ringer from earlier this year). Farrell is further grounded by some actual threats of genuine violence. When his doofus stumbles into a gang’s house in Crenshaw, CA, and he finds himself asking for help from a scary criminal gangland leader (T.I.), you can see him humbled by the anger in the room. T.I. Is not playing his role for laughs, and thank goodness. For a few moments, Farrell is humbled rather than ignorant.
It’s those few scenes of humility and appreciation that save Get Hard from being awful and offensive. At the end of the day, despite all its race jokes and pervasive homophobia, it seems to have a good heart. You can leave without clenching your fists in rage, and with a few hearty chuckles. It aims low, curves up, and lands somewhere in the middle.
Witney Seibold is a contributor to the CraveOnline Film Channel, and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. You can follow him on “Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind.
