Night School
This week, thanks mostly to Kevin Hart, I realized that I probably shouldn’t be writing movie reviews. They’re hard to write, my grammar is shaky at best, and no matter how bad the movie is, I’m a sucker for an ensemble. Put a bunch of down on their luck misfits together and I don’t care what happens to them, but the predetermined bonds that are formed fill me with a warmth unmatched by anything over than the best romantic comedy. A lot of reviewers would probably hate the underwritten characters, the flat jokes, and generally not care about the relationships we get the honor to watch for two hours. But that would never be me. If there are more than six characters in the group then I’m hooked no matter how clichéd each of them are. Night School isn’t a good movie, but I am going to give it a better rating than it deserves because, despite its numerous shortcomings, I actually care about the characters.
Night School sees Hart starring as Teddy, a successful barbeque grill salesman that is particularly skilled at talking his way out of most situations. But after an explosion at the store where he works (which would have killed him in any other film), Teddy finds himself unemployed and in need of his GED to keep up his over the top lifestyle for his more successful girlfriend, Lisa (Megalyn Echikunwoke). He decides to take a class at his old high school and that is taught by Carrie (a restrained but great Tiffany Haddish) who is able to get through to Teddy by being the first teacher to actually care about his success. His time taking the class is made more difficult due to his constant lying to Lisa, his temporary job at a Christian fast food restaurant, and the principle of the school being Stewart (Taran Killam), a former nerd once bullied by Teddy.
But Teddy is able to find his way and along with Carrie, he finds a support system in his classmates who become his friends while studying and getting into shenanigans. Teddy’s classmates include Jaylen (Romany Malco), a conspiracy theorist, Theresa (Mary Lynn Rajskub), an overworked and underappreciated mom , Mila (Anne Winters), Luis (Al Madrigal), a rich high school dropout, an immigrant from Mexico that Teddy got fired from his job, Mackenzie (Rob Riggle), a dad trying to get his son back in school, and Bobby (Fat Joe), a prison inmate. Individually non of them are given anything interesting enough to make me want to watch them while alone but when they are all together the film is at it’s best. The chemistry between the actors is evident at every moment and you can’t help but smile even as they deliver underwhelming dialogue.
Night School falls victim to the same pitfalls as even the most successful comedies of the year. Weird gross out scenes full of projectile vomiting, bones breaking, and pubes in food just aren’t as funny in 2018 as they were in 2006. A lot of comedies can succeed despite their attempt at juvenile humor because even those jokes are written well, Blockers for example, but Night School’s writing isn’t strong enough for those jokes to land. There are some funny moments but a lot of the jokes either go on too long or go a little overboard. Taran Killam’s character is one such instance of going overboard. His motivations don’t make sense given the story we are told and his character is a little useless, which is a shame considering how good Killam can be.
Though he is busy doing the standard marketing for the film, Hart looks more bored during this film than any other of his career. Unfortunately for him, I think the boredom that I saw is just an attempt at seriousness. I’ve always wondered what Kevin would be like in a serious role (though I haven’t see The Upside yet), but now I’m worried that it would be a train wreck. If you watch him talk about the film, he mentions “substance” and you can tell while watching that they definitely wanted to get a message across. Second chances are important for anyone at any age and great things can be done if people are given the opportunity. That message is clear, and all audience members should be able to understand it, but the vehicle it’s delivered in will probably leave them unwilling to receive it.
The Night School that I saw in theaters is much different than the Night School I expected to see. With Tiffany Haddish on the rise since 2017’s Girl Trip and Kevin Hart on a great run with Jumanji and Central Intelligence, I expected to loudly ugly laugh until I was embarrassed to walk out of the theater with everyone else. What I got instead is a mildly amusing film that doesn’t let either of its stars play to their biggest strengths. 2018’s comedies started off really strong and I was hoping for a fully year of comedic excellence. I’ve since been let down by the second half’s less than excellent turnout and Night School is another blemish. Had I known I was in for just a few small laughs I would have probably still saw this in theaters because seriously, wacky ensembles are wonderful.
I give it 2 out of 5 trash cans.
