Up & Coming Weekly

April 28, 2015

Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.

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20 UCW APRIL 29-MAY 5, 2015 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Critical Fail Get Hard (Rated R by HEATHER GRIFFITHS Crit ics seem conf used t hat Get Hard (100 minutes) made any money, considering how many of t he jokes relied on racism, sexism, rape and gay bashing. It 's ac t ually not t hat hard to f ig ure out how a lack luster f ilm like t his generated almost t w ice it s est imated budget in such a shor t t ime. First, t here weren't many ot her opt ions. Mov ieworld is a vast, empt y wasteland t his April. Audiences can only watch Furious 7 so many t imes, leav ing adult s who already picked over t he limited selec t ion of t he last t hree week s w it h not hing to watch unt il Avengers: Age of Ultron is released. So, we can also assume t hat Paul Blart Mall: Cop 2 w ill probably make enough money to just if y a greenlight on Paul Blart: The Prisoner of Azkaban Second, Kev in Har t is an appealing comedic ever y man foil to Will Ferrell's over t he top caricat ure of t he Priv ileged W hite Male. The t wo indiv idually are bankable st ars, and t hey cleverly made a mov ie w it h a realist ic budget, sure to earn a ret urn on t he st udio invest ment . Finally, f ilmmakers t hat t arget a middle-class male audience by mak- ing f un of rich people w ill never be poor. The fac t t hat "Coach" Craig T. Nelson and fan favorite A lison Brie are in t he mix only ser ves to broaden t he appeal, despite t he criminal underut ilizat ion of Brie play- ing what I imagine to be a pret t y good parody of young Laura Bush. The f ilm opens w it h a mont age of a R ich W hite Male (Ferrell) exer- cising all his prerogat ives while st ill dancing to t he t une of his much more at t ract ive f iancée, A lissa (Brie). He drives some sor t of fanc y car while singing along to Icona Pop's ver y catchy break-up t une, "I Love It!" This song is easily t he highlight of t he f ilm, so when it ends about f ive minutes into t he f ilm, a sharp decline immediately follows. These scenes are interspersed w it h Darnell Lew is (Har t) and his w ife, R it a (Edw ina Findley Dickerson) get t ing ready for work . They are simult a- neously t r y ing to apply for a mor tgage by using t heir daughter 's cute- ness as a weapon. On me, t hat would have worked because t he inst ant t hey showed her precocious lit t le face on screen I would have done any t hing to make her go away. I don't feel proud of myself for say ing t hat about a child, who is cer t ainly adorable and probably ver y nice when she is not "act ing." The rest of t he mov ie consist s of a completely clichéd plot, advanced t hrough sad one-liners and one-dimensional charac terizat ions. The R ich W hite Male is st ing y and cannot appreciate t he hard labor of t he work ing class. The gold-digging f iancée is all set to be a t rophy w ife, prov ided her R ich W hite Male upgrades t heir exist ing mansion to an even bigger mansion. Her fat her is a greedy corporate stereot y pe, obv i- ously engaged in large-scale f raud and using t he prot agonist as t he designated pat sy of t he operat ion. Darnell is likeable at f irst, prov id- ing a grounded center to t he f ilm, but t hat fades all too quick ly into a series of " jokes" about prison rape. Overall, t here's not hing new to see here. A lison Brie is capable of so much more, and since Et an Cohn scripted bot h Idiocracy and Tropic Thunder, I expected bet ter of him t han t his reg urgit ated nonsense. Now pl ay i n g at P at r iot 14 + I M A X . HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@ upandcomingweekly.com. 910.484.6200. IN THE MORNING Weekdays 5:30AM to 10:00AM

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