Get Hard

The first shot in Get Hard might be a reliable indicator of enjoyment for the 100 minutes that follow. It’s a close-up, with nothing in the background, of Will Ferrell crying.

If such a sight causes you to burst into knee-slapping hysterics, then you might want to get comfortable. If that image makes you joke with the person next to you about him crying because he saw the script, then you’re probably right, and should exit.

Here’s guessing that most folks will fall in the latter category for this low-brow pairing of Ferrell and Kevin Hart that strains to be crude and raunchy but forgets to be funny, except for their most ardent fans.

Ferrell plays James, an aspiring executive who is framed in a tax-evasion scheme by his father-in-law (Craig T. Nelson), and is sentenced to a lengthy prison stay in San Quentin. Fearful for how he might cope with such a scenario, he hires Darnell (Hart), who operates a fledgling car-wash service outside James’ office.

Operating under the false assumption that Darnell has been to prison, James offers him a hefty sum to harden him up — thus the title, one of many double-entendres — for life behind bars. But since Darnell’s never been in the joint, he has to fake it out of desperation in order to collect the money.

Get Hard presents a familiar odd-couple scenario featuring two comedians who appear to have fun sharing the spotlight, but too often the material feels labored. The payoff is pretty obvious right from the get-go, even if there are a few big laughs and an amusing John Mayer cameo along the way.

It’s hardly worth the effort to question why James doesn’t make a more immediate effort to prove his innocence — because then the movie would have been a lot shorter, of course.

The film marks the directorial debut of screenwriter Etan Cohen (Tropic Thunder), who could have opted for a clever satire about Wall Street corruption or prison life or socioeconomic disparity, but instead he would rather indulge in gratuitous gross-out gags, or reinforce lazy cultural stereotypes, or show off Ferrell’s bare ass.

Moviegoers aren’t supposed to ask whether the jokes are in poor taste because the cast is so diverse, so everyone must approve, right? Even if you buy that logic, it doesn’t excuse the poor execution.

Rated R, 100 minutes.