“Get Hard” Movie Review

As one may have noticed in the media, the new (and actually somewhat controversial) “Get Hard” movie has just hit theaters. The plot centers around James King (Will Ferrell),a sheltered Wall Street broker who has been convicted of fraud and sentenced to a decade in prison. He seeks the help of Darnell Lewis (Kevin Hart) to prepare him for life as an inmate.

This crude but purposeful comedy has caused several critics to go wild with accusations concerning the overall content and handling of sensitive topics in the film, such as racial and gay stereotypes. However, according to Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart, the main producers and stars of the movie, the content is purely satirical, meaning the grossly exaggerated prejudices shown by the characters are meant to prove a point about societal evils.

At first glance, the way Darnell role-plays an aggressive Latino inmate in order to toughen up James looks and sounds totally racist. However, even though people laugh at these seemingly ridiculous behaviors, there is some truth behind how people perceive Latin Americans in “bad neighborhoods” across the country. Keep this in mind, it must be quite frustrating for the makers of the movie to have to explain the satire, because people tend to be a bit sensitive to racially ambiguous material (as they should be, of course).

Upon discussing the movie with others who have seen it, there seems to be a unanimous conclusion that the comedic nature of “Get Hard” is just like that of another Will Ferrell movie- “Step Brothers”. The jokes are quick and crude, and the characters lack depth, but this seems to be the point of gag comedy. So if you liked “The Interview”, “Anchorman”(1 or 2 you pick), or “21 Jump Street”, you will most likely enjoy “Get Hard”, which is in theaters now.