Will Ferrell has basically made movies out of any number of thin sketches of ideas he’s ever had. What about the prospect of being sentenced to a term at a maximum-security jail where you know you’re toast once you’re inside? Yep, that too! The idea is a nightmare for many, and Ferrell is tackling that concept head on, alongside other notions of race and class, with “Get Hard.”
The comedy, directed by Etan Cohen (the screenwriter of “Men In Black 3” and “Tropic Thunder,” making his directorial debut here) is about a Bernie Madoff figure played by Ferrell. He’s nailed for fraud and about to be sent up the river, so in a panic he tries to hire the first African-American he meets with the misguided assumption they’ll know how to “get hard” for prison time. But the first African-American man he meets, played by Kevin Hart, is the opposite of experienced criminal.
"I wrongly assume he has a criminal record. And before he punches me in the face for that, I offer him too much money to say no," Ferrell explained to USA Today this week. "[Hart’s character] is pretending to be a thug, so he can help his family to a better life. That’s the leaping-off point."
So let the hilarity ensue… we hope. "Come on, man, you have Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart. You know doggone well we’re not staying on the script. There was tons of improv," said Hart about all the long runs of improvisation in the film. "Sometimes it would fall flat, and then we’d nail it —home run."
The first trailer for the film has arrived, and now we can judge whether they nailed it or not. Co-starring Alison Brie and T.I., "Get Hard" opens in theaters March 27, 2015 via Warner Bros. Watch the first trailer below.
I\’m going to have a good time ignoring this movie.