After Ferrell immediately gets the attention of the depressingly used Matt Walsh, of Veep fame, he proceeds to attempt an unsuccessful bathroom-stall tryst, which disgusts him in such graphic detail that he can’t go through with it. While being eyed up by every gay man around them, Hart informs Ferrell of the relative ease of approaching a gay stranger for sex, because “that’s what they do”.
The film’s unarguably wretched low point arrives when Hart’s character takes Ferrell to a gay brunch “hookup spot” where he tells him he’ll need to learn to perform oral sex to make his time in prison easier.
The film then becomes a seemingly endless slog through a series of tiresome jokes related to avoiding, or even glumly accepting, having sex with a man, or a series of them, once on the inside. But the overwhelmingly dominant phobia that takes over the film relates to his concerns over being raped on the inside. Ferrell’s pre-prison fears cover the threat of violence rather briskly while his reduced freedom is barely mentioned. It’s a regrettable misfire as the stars are likable, their chemistry is strong and there’s an amusing initial attempt to challenge stereotypes (Ferrell wrongfully assumes Hart has done time because of his ignorant racial profiling) but as soon as prison prep begins, an alarming cloud arrives, throwing a dark, stifling shadow over the film. But reviews have been mostly toxic, with Variety calling out “some of the ugliest gay-panic humour to befoul a studio release in recent memory” and The Playlist labelling it “more offensive than just about anything we’ve seen lately.” Ferrell’s character, a disgraced investment banker, is heading to prison in 30 days and he enlists Hart’s struggling car-washer to help him prepare, leading to a variety of farcical situations. In the new Will Ferrell/Kevin Hart comedy Get Hard, an appealing comic premise is established in a slick studio comedy manner, complete with trailer-ready sight gags and a radio-friendly pop soundtrack.