The purpose of this fitfully funny comedy from director
Malcolm D. Lee is to allow Kevin Hart, playing a high school dropout seeking to
pass the GED exam to secure a promising job, to trade barbs with Tiffany
Haddish in the role of his feisty teacher. A few of their exchanges work. But
when attention shifts to his predictably eccentric classmates (Rob Riggle,
Romany Malco, Al Madrigal and Mary Lynn Rajskub among them), his ongoing
rivalry with an old high school adversary (Taran Killam) or his romance with
his fiancee (Megalyn Echikunwoke) laughs and interest both lag. Given the
unpleasant nature of some of the gags and the abundance of vulgar talk in the
script, which Hart co-wrote with five others, viewers may want to play hooky
instead.
Watch out for: Much sexual
and some scatological humor, partial nudity, about a dozen profanities, several
milder oaths, pervasive crude and crass language, mature references, including
to homosexuality.
Rated: L, limited adult
audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling;
MPAA: PG-13
© Arlington Catholic Herald 2018