Night School

First Hit: A few funny moments in a supposed humorous feelgood film that also attempted to make a point.

Right from the beginning, the failures of this film are present. Kevin Hart playing Teddy Walker, is shown being in high school. To make Kevin look younger and in a different time, they gave him a cornrow hairstyle. It didn’t work, Kevin looked way too old to support the premise.

Although this error could have been alleviated by using another actor, they compounded this error a couple more times in the film. This filming and directional error stayed with me through out.

Present day, Teddy is a high-school dropout but a super salesman selling barbeques. He sells more than anyone else at the company where he works. He spends all the money he makes and his closest friend Marvin (Ben Schwartz), who is a runs a Wall Street company, keeps telling him to save and quit spending.

Teddy is dating and living with a very successful woman named Lisa (Megalyn Echikunwoke) who everyone says is out of his league. When Teddy proposes to Lisa he accidently blows up his place of work. Being a high-school dropout, with no prospects for work, he starts working at a fast food joint as a promotional chicken. When Marvin says he can work for him if he gets he GED, he tells Lisa he’s already working for Marvin.

Enrolling into a Night School class taught by Carrie (Tiffany Haddish) he’s now grouped with other people who are struggling to make their life better. The interaction with them is, at times, funny.

As the film dances between Teddy’s untruthful relationship with Lisa, his high-school days, and his GED classroom antics, the film came across as chopped up.

Hart was Hart. There really wasn’t a character named Teddy. It is Hart as a person named Teddy. Haddish as the night school teacher who cares, was very funny. Echikunowoke, in a limited role, was strong as Lisa. Schwartz was good as Teddy’s friend. Ron Riggle was funny as McKenzie, one of Teddy’s GED classmates. Taran Killam was OK as the school principal and former nerdy high-school classmate of Teddy’s. Romany Malco as Jaylen, one of Teddy’s GED classmates, was strong. Mary Lynn Rajsku, as Theresa, was hilarious as one of Teddy’s GED classmates. Anne Winters was good as Mila, one of the GED classmates. Al Madrigal, as Luis, was funny as one of Teddy’s GED classmates. Kevin Hart and Harry Ratchford wrote a sophomoric kind of script. Malcolm D. Lee did an OK job of directing this film.

Overall: I left the theater uninspired by this comedic attempt.

Girls Trip

First Hit:  Some very funny scenes, a few overly gross scenes, all in a satisfying but too long film.

I don’t mind grossness in a film. However, when more than one person pisses on a crowd from a zip line and the amount of piss and the way it sprays around is totally un-real, it is a turnoff, adds no value and is not funny. This and other stupid scenes when juxtaposed against some very fine and really, out-loud, funny scenes, could keep this film from being a classic hit, years from now.

Strong friendships between four black women is the basis for this strong film as they reconnect and re-find their deep love and respect for each other. Many of us have friendships that have lasted through the years. I’ve got two friends, whom I’ve known for over 50 years. Although we may not speak with each other very often, but when we do we find the place where trust and having each other’s backs rises to the top.

This film explores all this and more because, Ryan (Regina Hall) is in a farce of a marriage, promotes her life as having it all, and subjugates herself for money, her husband’s infidelity and fame. Then there is Sasha (Queen Latifah), who is financially struggling because, her once strong communication skills are being wasted on her TMZ type website that has no viewers. She found herself in this position because Ryan quit their business partnership. Lisa (Jada Pinkett Smith) has become a protective stay at home divorced mom. The fun, strong, smart girl has been both emotionally and sexually suppressed. Dina (Tiffany Haddish) is the wild girl, the fun girl and the bold girl. She’s the one in the group that pushes the edge of experience for all of them through her boldness.

They get together in New Orleans because Ryan gets an all-expenses paid trip to promote herself and husband Stewart (Mike Colter) to a possible television production company while at a conference. Although the unraveling of their back stories’ is predictable, the humor used is, at times, sparkling and strong. One example was the demonstration of using a grapefruit in sex, very funny. All of these women were perfect and well chosen for the character they represented and it showed that they became friends during the filming.

Hall was perfectly reserved, suppressed, and wanting to live her truth of having it all. She showed the rediscovery of her true self well. Latifah was wonderful and didn’t dominate the film as she has in other films. She fit effortlessly and was perfect as the woman who had Ryan’s back no matter what. Smith’s character evolved the most during the film. The opening scenes where she acts repressed were on the edge of being pressed, but her clothing made it all work. Then as she evolves you can see how she fit into the group years ago. Haddish was like having a wild animal loose in a positive way. She brought spark, edginess and bold fun to this role. She was the spark plug. Colter was strong as Ryan’s philandering husband. His voice is so soft and smooth which he uses as an asset for convincing Ryan to buy into the hype. Erica Rivinoja and Kenya Barris wrote a wonderful story that embodied some real insights to friendship. Malcolm D. Lee did a good job of directing this film. My criticisms are that he needed to remove 30 minutes of film, it was way too long, and that the overdoing of some scenes took it from being a strong film and moved it toward being silly.

Overall:  It needed some tightening up, but otherwise it was a very funny and strong film.