Review of the night school: Kevin Hart's worst film to date

"Night School", easy to distinguish from Kevin Hart's previous films, as it takes place in a school at night, marks a major turning point in his star's long and successful career: unless a complete overhaul of his mark The first draft of a bad comedy is the last time anyone will be surprised to wait for Kevin Hart to do better.

In his most recent and least amusing film – which ends with a serious speech about the value of self-improvement – Hart is just recreating the same craze he pushed into the ground with "The Wedding Ringer" , "Ride Along," and "Ride Along 2: Here We Go Again," which has another sequel. Once again, he plays a crush with a gold heart, using an empty effect elastic mask to hide that nothing is happening behind. The actor's bag of tricks is so limited that all his roles have become completely different from each other; even when he was playing a jock of teenagers who had been transmogrified into the body of a little adult man, it looked like the same thing.

In all honesty to Hart, the "Night School" script is so clear and absurd that even a generation comic like Tiffany Haddish could not save it if it were in the movie. In all fairness to us, Hart wrote the screenplay for "Night School" (with five other credited authors), Tiffany Haddish, a generation comedian, is in the film and she is not even close to it (although she has is able to make a handful of solid moments).

The film reunited her with Malcolm D. Lee, director of "Girls Trip", and it was probably a mistake to make her a first line a fun reminder of the hilarious success of last summer. what it's like to watch something that has been done with great care and credible characters. Lee's proven talent for mixing general situational humor with sneaky work is almost completely lacking in action here.

Just like "Central Intelligence", "Night School" begins with a backtracking of the protagonist's teenage years, except that this time, Hart plays the role of joke. Teddy Walker is a delinquent student, but he is so ashamed of his learning difficulties that no one has the opportunity to diagnose them. Teddy's (Keith David) authoritative father makes it difficult for him to talk about his dyslexia and his twin sister, a Bresha Webb, who disappears from the movie until the final feast, makes fun of him. When Teddy growls during the SAT, he is so frustrated that he decides to leave high school and grow on his own terms.

Seventeen years later, Teddy seems to live the dream. He drives an elegant cabriolet, he goes out with a kind and beautiful woman (Megalyn Echikunwoke) and works as a salesman in a shop that sells barbecues. But he is a very good salesman – so good in fact that the store owner is asking him to take over his retirement. Teddy is a person, and it counts for something. But that does not count enough to pay for Teddy's extended lifestyle, a complex illusion that he keeps on a payroll payment schedule; Enjoy the scene where he sprinkled a piece of cheesecake with his own pubic hair to avoid paying an expensive meal because the film is at the bottom.

When Teddy lights a gas explosion that burns the barbecue joint, he has to find a new job and quickly. His very white and very boring friend (Ben Schwartz) promises to help him get a job in his finance company, but only if Teddy gets his GED. And so it's gone for the titular evening school, where our hero is joined by a motley crew of freaks that includes a generic idiot (Rob Riggle), who likes to talk about his "slut from the bottom" ( Romany Malco), a hardworking mother who desperately wants to be away from her children (Mary Lynn Rajskub) and a Mexican immigrant who risked her life to cross the border and become a dental hygienist (Al Madrigal, by far the funniest person despite having a stereotype of immigrant). Then there is Fat Joe, who plays a convict imprisoned in Skyping, in the common area of ​​his maximum security prison. This little, used sparingly, almost works.

All these characters are united by their economic anxiety – and not in the lamentable sense of the term – but the film has no interest in unpacking their discomfort, or thinking that they are all taught for the test; that they are eagerly buying the same system that makes them go out. Even their teacher, Carrie (Haddish), is there because she needs money, which makes it difficult to understand how she can afford to rent a UFC gym for the inexplicable fitting of the training.

At this point, the film is already so deeply stupid that such mysteries do not really matter. There's really no fearlessness recovery from the burglary sequence, in which Teddy and his mates get into the director's office to steal a hands-on test in order to pass the mi exam. -session (the principle is played by Taran Killam), whose performance should be a warning sign for all members of the "SNL" cast who might think about leaving the series for studio comedies). Cheating on a GED preparation course does not make sense because the only test that matters is the GED exam itself. These morons are only deceiving themselves.

It's a shame that big shows do not work, because the rest of the movie is just a tiring mess of grimacing reaction shots, all of which are melted by David Newman's score of Cheez Whiz. About 50% of the budget seems to have been spent on Outkast songs that have prolonged the story, and yes, that's the kind of movie that gives birth to a Hey Hey dance group! but reduced before the closing credits.

This time could be used to make Teddy's girlfriend something more than a human accessory, or to add a dimension even vaguely credible to the dynamics that unites them, but it does not matter. All of these things are just showcases for a guy who has to suck all the air in every scene, even if it makes the movie around them. Next time, put Haddish in the lead, and let Hart be the caustic support character that comes in from time to time. It would not hurt to return the equation.

Grade: D

Universal Pictures will release "Night School" in theaters on September 28th.

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