Get Hard

Get Hard

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Etan Cohen
Produced by
Screenplay by
Story by
  • Adam McKay
  • Jay Martel
  • Ian Roberts
Starring
Music by Christophe Beck
Cinematography Tim Suhrstedt
Edited by Michael L. Sale
Production
company
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Release dates
  • March 16, 2015 (SXSW)
  • March 27, 2015 (United States)
Running time
 100 minutes[1][2]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $40 million[3]
Box office $100.3 million[3]

Get Hard is an American comedy film directed by Etan Cohen (in his directorial debut) and written by Etan Cohen, Jay Martel and Ian Roberts.[4] The film stars Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, Alison Brie, Edwina Findley, and Craig T. Nelson.[5] The film was released on March 27, 2015 to negative reviews but was a financial success, grossing over $100 million.

Plot

James King (Will Ferrell) is an extremely wealthy hedge fund manager, engaged to his gorgeous gold-digging fiancee Alissa (Alison Brie). His car washer, Darnell Lewis (Kevin Hart), and his wife, Rita, are trying to put their daughter Makayla in a better school away from the bad neighborhood they live in. James meets Darnell when the latter accidentally frightens James in the parking lot. James makes a speech about how he got to his success, and to inspire Darnell to go for his. He pulls out a big wad of cash, only to give two singles as a "tip" for Darnell.

Alissa hosts an engagement party for herself and James. She gives him an electric guitar as a gift, and invites John Mayer onstage to perform. James performs alongside Mayer momentarily until the FBI storm in and arrest James for fraud and embezzlement. James's lawyer Peter Penny urges James to go for a guilty plea, but he refuses and insists that he will be exonerated. Instead, everybody that lost money in the embezzlement scheme is out for James's head. The judge finds him guilty and sentences James to ten years at San Quentin, with only 30 days to get his affairs in order. His assets are frozen and he is placed under house arrest. He cuts off the ankle bracelet and tries to flee the country. He drives to a country club to get Alissa to go with him, but she says she has left him and decided to move on. The police then show up and arrest James, who asks his boss, Alissa's father, Martin (Craig T. Nelson) for help.

James encounters Darnell once more in the parking lot, expressing his fears over going to prison. He asks Darnell how he managed in prison, simply assuming he was incarcerated because he is black. James then begs Darnell to teach him how to toughen up if he wants to survive in prison. Darnell demands payment in the form of $30,000, which James agrees to.

Darnell, who has little idea of how to act tough himself, tries to put on a facade of his own. To start his "training", Darnell pepper-sprays James upon arriving to his home. He tries to get James ready for prison by intimidating with his "mad dog" face (James can only "sad dog" it), creating scenarios in which he must defend himself, and picking fights at the park (only for James to be beaten multiple times). James gets in touch with Martin and says he's getting help. Martin, who is the actual crook, thinks James is onto him and orders Peter and a hired gun named Gayle to take care of business.

With little time left and even less improvement, Darnell figures that James has to learn how to perform oral sex in prison. They go to a gay hook-up spot for James to find a man to give fellatio to, but he can't go through with it and tells Darnell (in front of the other curious and interested gay men) that he will keep going and do whatever it takes to "get hard." James starts to work out harder and faster, makes shivs, and learns "keistering" - smuggling contraband in the anus. Darnell simulates a prison raid with help from James' personal workers acting as inmates. In the chaos, James gets a shiv stuck in his head. Darnell drives James to his home for Rita to get the shiv out. He has dinner and listens to Darnell make up a story of how he went to prison (which is just a retelling of Boyz N The Hood). Rita asks Darnell why he can't just find the real criminal to help James.

Mere days before his incarceration, James and Darnell resolve for James to join a local gang, the Crenshaw Kings, to protect him in prison. James dresses in a ridiculous outfit that gets unwanted attention. Darnell's cousin Russell (T.I.), who runs the gang, isn't convinced that James can pay him and knows that Darnell is lying about prison. James does help the gang gain interest in finance and stocks. Darnell drives James to a bar where the Allegiance of Whites gang is based. James is unable to be a convincing racist, leading the white supremacists to think he's a cop. They nearly burn his face with a motorcycle tire until Darnell rescues him by bursting in with a flamethrower. Darnell realizes James is innocent and they conclude that Martin is the crook. They sneak into his home and find the embezzlement records on Martin's old computer. Unfortunately, Gayle finds them and takes the computer back after telling James that Darnell has a clean record and never actually went to prison. Despite his earlier misjudgment of Darnell previously being in prison, James feels betrayed and leaves the parking lot.

James returns to the Crenshaw Kings with the intention of joining. For his initiation, they want him to kill someone. Darnell arrives in time to stop him and convince him to catch Martin and expose him. The two find Martin's yacht and sneak on board. They grab the computer, only to come across Gayle and more hitmen. James unleashes a series of capoeira moves on the goons while Darnell protects the computer. Martin comes out and confesses to the crime, while Alissa steps out and admits that she got in on the scheme. Martin and Alissa try to convince James to run away with them, but he turns them down and heads to the life raft with Darnell. The duo tries to get out on the life raft until Gayle shoots it out. James pulls out a gun he kept up his butt and aims it at Gayle until the cops show up just in time, in response to James being outside of the county lines. Martin, Alissa, Gayle, and Peter are all arrested. James is also arrested for stupidly pulling out the concealed weapon, but he only serves six months. He helps the police return the stolen money and decides to give Darnell money to expand his car wash business and move to a better neighborhood. After the six months are up, Darnell goes to pick James up from prison and the two ride off.

Cast

Production

On December 7, 2012, it was announced that Warner Bros. was in talks to acquire the Get Hard comedy film script written by Ian Roberts and Jay Martel, while Adam McKay and Will Ferrell's Gary Sanchez Productions would produce.[6] On September 17, 2013 Etan Cohen was set to direct.[4] On February 24, 2014, Warner Bros set the film for a March 27, 2015 release.[11] Tim Suhrstedt is the director of photography.[12]

Casting

On December 7, 2012, Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart were attached to star.[6] On February 26, 2014, news broke that Craig T. Nelson had joined to play Martin Barrow, the founder of Barrow Funds (Ferrell's character's boss) and also the father of Ferrell's character's fiancee.[9] On March 17, 2014 Alison Brie signed on to star, playing the fiancee of Ferrell's character.[7] On March 21, 2014, Edwina Findley joined the cast to play Rita Hudson, wife to Hart's character.[8] On March 24, 2014 Dan Bakkedahl joined the cast to play Rick, Ferrell’s hated enemy at their office.[13] On March 25, 2014 T.I. joined the cast, playing a character named Joaquin, Hart's character's streetwise cousin.[10]

Filming

Principal photography began on March 17, 2014 in New Orleans.[12] The crews were spotted on March 18 on the set of the film at Mercedes-Benz Superdome.[14] Principal photography ended on May 14, 2014.[15]

Music

On October 30, 2014, Christophe Beck was hired to compose the music for the film.[16]

The film was released by Warner Bros. on March 27, 2015.[11]

Reception

Box office

As of April 26, 2015, Get Hard has grossed $83.9 million in North America and $15.7 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $99.6 million, against a budget of $40 million.[3]

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $33.8 million, coming in second place at the box office behind Home ($52.1 million). It was Ferrell's third-highest opening for a live-action film behind Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby ($47 million) and The Other Guys ($35.5 million).[17]

Critical reception

Get Hard has received generally negative reviews, with many critics citing the film's overuse of racial and gay jokes. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 29% approval rating, based on 138 reviews, with an average rating of 4.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A waste of two fine funnymen, Get Hard settles for tired and offensive gags instead of tapping into its premise's boundary-pushing potential."[18] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score of 34 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[19]

CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend recorded that cinema audiences gave Get Hard an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[20]

References

  1. ↑ "GET HARD (15)". British Board of Film Classification. March 9, 2015. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  2. ↑ "AMC Theatres: Get Hard". amctheatres.com. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Get Hard (2015)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Kroll, Justin (17 September 2013). "Etan Cohen to Direct Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart in Warner Bros. ‘Get Hard’". variety.com. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  5. ↑ THR Staff. "Kevin Hart Schools a Racist, Convicted Will Ferrell in the 'Get Hard' Trailer". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Fleming Jr, Mike (7 December 2012). "Warner Bros In Talks For ‘Get Hard’ With Will Ferrell And Kevin Hart Attached To Star". deadline.com. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Fleming Jr, Mike (17 March 2014). "‘Community’s Alison Brie Joins Will Ferrell-Kevin Hart Comedy ‘Get Hard’". deadline.com. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Edwina Findley Cast In ‘Get Hard’". deadline.com. 21 March 2014. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Ford, Rebecca (26 February 2014). "Craig T. Nelson Joins Will Ferrell-Kevin Hart Comedy 'Get Hard'". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "T.I. Joins Will Ferrell Comedy ‘Get Hard’". deadline.com. 25 March 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Ford, Rebecca (24 February 2014). "Will Ferrell-Kevin Hart Comedy 'Get Hard' Lands Release Date". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "GET HARD with Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart Begins Filming". broadwayworld.com. 18 March 2014. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  13. ↑ "Dan Bakkedahl Joins ‘Get Hard’". deadline.com. 24 March 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  14. ↑ "Will Ferrell begins filming ‘Get Hard’ in New Orleans". onlocationvacations.com. 19 March 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
  15. ↑ "On The Set For 5/19/14: Christoph Waltz-Starrer ‘Tulip Fever’ Starts For The Weinstein Co.". Studiosystemnews.com. Retrieved 2014-05-21.
  16. ↑ "Christophe Beck Scoring ‘Get Hard’". filmmusicreporter.com. October 30, 2014. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
  17. ↑ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/?view=Actor&id=willferrell.htm&sort=opengross&order=DESC&p=.htm
  18. ↑ "Get Hard". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2015-04-03.
  19. ↑ "Get Hard Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
  20. ↑ "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com. Retrieved March 28, 2015.

External links