This week at the movies: Will Farrell and Kevin Hart acting ridiculous in an opposites-attract buddy movie; and something purple and squishy acts adorable for the kids.
Get Hard
Will Farrell stars as a rich investment banker who is wrongfully convicted for a crime he didn’t commit. Unlike Martha Stewart though, he isn’t getting off easy and must go to a maximum-security prison. To prepare, he hires a man (Kevin Hart) to help him “get hard.” Except Hart’s got no cred in this game; he’s never been to prison and didn’t grow up in a ghetto. The unlikely pairing is supposed to send up racial stereotypes while also getting laughs.
Perfect For: Fans of the two stars; if you like buddy movies and fish out of water stories, it could also be for you.
What the Critics Say: Hit and miss, though mostly miss. Writes Entertainment Weekly: “Get Hard is not only a bad movie but a profoundly wasted opportunity.” And Time magazine (begrudgingly) liked it: “But laughter trumps political fairness, and Get Hard made me laugh at, and with, situations I hadn’t thought could tickle me. The movie has a warm heart beating under its seemingly scabrous shell.”
Our Take: Unless you are a diehard Hart/Farrell fan, I’d probably wait for Netflix.
Watch the Trailer:
Home
Ah, something for people who are actually children, not just childish. Home explores many of the same tropes in other animated kid’s flicks; namely, an outsider (alien, or a person from an unseen, underground world) comes into ours and makes a friend. Together, they embark on an adventure that usually involves saving the world (either the outsider’s or ours). In this variation, the alien is Oh (voiced by Jim Parsons), a squishy purple thing, so named because he’s so clutzy that when things go wrong, everyone says, “Oh!” His human partner in crime is Tip (voiced by Rihanna). They are, of course, trying to save the world.
Perfect For: Wee ones.
What the Critics Say: It’s sweet, but not a new or inventively told story. Writes the Hollywood Reporter: “There may be no place like home, but there are a lot of places like Home, an animated adventure about the unlikely friendship between a lonely girl and an alien misfit that can't help but feel familiar.” And says Time Out: “Inoffensive but flavourless, and crammed with familiar elements from better movies like Lilo and Stitch, Toy Story and Despicable Me.”
Our Take: If you’ve got a tiny tot, it’s still a sweet afternoon treat.
Watch the Trailer:
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