When a pompous investment banker (Will Farrell) is convicted of a crime, he hires the only black man he knows (Kevin Hart) to prepare him for prison. The premise is promising, but the movie relies on lame predictable subjects (gay panic, racial stereotypes, obvious villains) instead of genuine comic writing. Hart’s motor mouth provides most of laffs, while Farrell’s broad, buffoon style is often annoying. There are memorable out comic moments and almost nobody in the supporting cast adds any humor (T.J. Jagodowski’s friendly gay is an exception). The dialogue feels like writer/director Elan Cohen let the 2 leads improvise most of the bits and didn’t exercise any control on their effusive styles. Their chemistry’s not bad and there are some funny parts, but more often it just tries too hard.
(2 / 5)