Night School Review

Diminutive African-American comedian Kevin Hart is once again in a frenetic comic mood as he goes back to school to get his all important GED certificate.

Directed by Malcolm D Lee, the production is very much a hands-on effort by Hart, who not only stars in it but is also credited as a co-writer and co-producer.

Hart’s coarse sense of humour will not appeal to everyone, but he’s built a huge international fan base over the years and this movie is unashamedly aimed at this market.

Hart’s character, Teddy Walker, is a high school dropout who is forced to attend night school to better himself. There, he meets a group of similar misfits, as well as a teacher from hell, played with enormous zeal by Tiffany Haddish. The teacher quickly cottons onto Teddy’s wily ways and the “war” between these two characters helps drive the narrative.

Hart’s character is a somewhat unsavoury individual. He lies to his attractive girlfriend Lisa (Megalyn Echikunwoke) and pretends he has enough wealth to keep them in champagne. The truth is the man is trying to survive. He is in arrears on his Porsche payments and on his expansive apartment, but he earns a good living as a hotshot salesman selling barbecue equipment. But when he unwittingly burns down the business, he finds himself out of a job and he cannot find decent work – unless he studies for his GED certificate.

Reluctantly, he enters the adult school system, while holding down a lowly paid day job promoting a chicken franchise, appropriately called Christian Chicken, dressed in a ridiculous chicken outfit. Some fowl play does emerge.

The comedy flies just above ground level, as one would expect in a Hart comedy, where vulgar jokes and physical comedy meet head-on. There are amusing moments and some sharp dialogue, with messages about learning disabilities and the need for honesty in one’s life woven into the narrative’s fabric.

If you’re into this kind of OTT comedy caper, then Night School is what the doctor ordered.

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