Pulse Movie Review: Night School offers laughs but falls short in substance

Kevin Hart does what he knows how to do best in his latest movie but that also falling short in key aspects.

Kevin Hart's meteoric rise in Hollywood has been accompanied by snickers from a group of people that feel he is not genuinely talented enough to be the funniest man in showbiz.

Now, to be fair to Mr Hart, he has never branded himself to be in possession of talent worthy of Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle comparisons.

While the Rock and Chappelle are arguably the greatest to ever do stand-up comedy, Kevin Hart boasts of a much successful movie career. No one can deny that Hart is a hard-working comedian who puts in the time and effort to ensure his movies are box office successes.

He has a formula that works for him. By acting in movies with really simple plot lines and lampooning his character, Kevin Hart has risen to the top.

 

His latest movie 'Night School' offers the same mix. The storyline is simple. Hart plays the role of Teddy Walker, a brash, wisecracking student who decides not to take his General Equivalency Diploma (GED) which is needed for him to graduate from High School.

Always the smooth talker, he finesses his way through life to not only become a good barbeque salesman but live a lifestyle way above his means.

Due to an unfortunate incident at his place of work, Walker now has to go back to High School to get his GED so that he can keep up with his pretentious lifestyle.

In order to get his GED, he has to attend night class taught by a no-nonsense teacher Carrie (played by Hollywood's it-actress Tiffany Haddish). It would be all so easy for Walker to get his GED but for one problem, actually more than one. He has several learning disabilities.

 

From here on it is a race against time for him to overcome his disabilities to pass his GED and get a fancy job to impress his sexy girlfriend. Add a few colourful characters as his classmates, and what you get is a story about second chances.

 

As the star of the movie, Kevin Hart carries the whole movie with his finetuned-to-perfection style of slapstick comedy and screen humour. If you want a movie that makes you laugh and a character that can make you crack your ribs, Night School is the movie for you.

The moral of the story also (it is never too late for you to start over) leaves a fuzzy sheen all over the movie at the end.

Sadly, the one-dimensional humour is where the story all ends. Kevin Hart's character is as paper thin as well...paper. Throughout the movie, he is depicted as a dishonest guy but he comes off as a bumbling and unserious character. He lacks weight or an anchor to make his character believable.

 

His co-star Tiffany Haddish has a muted role throughout the movie as she portrays the role of a strict teacher. While she does have her moments, her character floats with no conviction. It becomes worse when she reveals she is a lesbian which seems like an afterthought of the writer's department rather than critical thinking necessary for proper characterization.

With a superstar like Kevin Hart and a rising star like Tiffany Haddish, Night School should have been a great comedy movie. While the leading stars fail to do proper justice to the movie, Night School is a movie to watch when all you want to do is laugh.