(spoiler free)
Starring ‘Girls Trip’ breakout comedy scene stealer Tiffany Haddish, Kevin Hart’s latest feature funny ‘Night School’ has its hall pass and is free to roam a cinema screen near you. With the basic Kevin Hart comedy formula firmly in place once more would his new effort be the usual miss or a rare hit?
If the opening scene is anything to go by (which it is), ‘Night School’ establishes its unfunny tone right from the get go. We witness Hart, who plays Teddy a high school drop out in a flashback sequence to his school days along with some of his fellow cast. The dire attempts to de-age these actors are embarrassing and kick-starts the poor efforts seen across most elements of this film. The premise has potential, Teddy needs to get his GED (General Equivalency Diploma) in order to secure a new job which his girlfriend already thinks he has. In order to do this he has to secretly attend his old high school’s night class taught by none other than Miss Haddish, who plays no nonsense teacher Carrie. Unfortunately the film falls victim to predictability and an unfunny script. After the poor opening things don’t get that much better as most of the comedy simply doesn’t land. Don’t get me wrong there are amusing moments, maybe the best being one particular place of work Teddy frequents while he’s studying at night school – if you ever thought your fast food fried chicken was missing just that little something extra you’ll find out what that was here.
However, as is often the case with these Kevin Hart comedy vehicles the cast deserve so much more. Both lead stars Hart and Haddish, and actually the supporting cast too are enthusiastic performers. Haddish comes across the best feeling like the real star power behind the movie whilst for the first time Hart somewhat struggles with the poor material, or maybe his funny man routine is just finally wearing thin? His charisma just about pulls him through but he can’t have many more in him like this before he simply morphs into the new version of Adam Sandler. The collection of smaller supporting characters are very average not really fulfilling their comedy potential never fully pulling their weight with the gags. ’24’s Mary Lynn Rajskub’s highly strung mother, Theresa is the most effective but really is the best of a bad bunch who will fail to entertain audiences craving quality comedy!
Ultimately ‘Night School’ offers very little to the comedy genre and continues the recent string of average to poor Kevin Hart lead films, maybe proving to be the least funny yet. It’s a real shame that Haddish has gone from the heights of ‘Girl’s Trip’ to the lows of ‘Night School’ but she comes out fairly unscathed and will be able to put this down to experience! With inconsistent gags which only deliver laughs few and far between even the spirited performances of the talented cast aren’t enough to save this film comedy from it’s inevitable grade – F.
Written by Hamish Calvert
Rating – 2/10
Question: What is your favourite Kevin Hart lead comedy?
(Leave your answers in the comments section below!)
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Thanks to Movie House Cinemas for screening access
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