I have yet to see a movie that isnât made worse by the presence of Kevin Hart, even the animated ones. Heâs like the second coming of Adam SandlerâŠgrating, obnoxious and about as funny as a tax audit.
Iâm strictly speaking of him as an actor, not a comedian. While I personally don't find his stand-up all that hilarious, I can certainly see why others do. But heâs a terrible actor, mainly because in every movie Iâve ever seen where he has a significant role, Hartâs not playing a character. Heâs simply being Kevin HartâŠthe exact same pint-sized, fast-talking, smart-ass persona as his stage act. Only this time, heâs ruining someone elseâs material. Hell, even his DraftKings commercials suck.
Heâs probably not to blame, though. Iâm pretty certain Patrick Hughes, the director of The Man from Toronto, simply instructed him to do his âKevin Hart thingâ when the cameras rolled. Maybe there are entire scenes in the screenplay that simply read, Kevin Hart does his thing. And he certainly obligesâŠin gobs of laughless, occasionally embarrassing sequences where his manic âcharacterâ sucks all the oxygen out of the room. Considering the premise of this particular film, at no time do we believe weâre watching anyone but Kevin Hart doing his thing. I dunnoâŠmaybe the little guy actually can act, but so far, no one has asked him to.
![]() |
The Unfriendly Skies. |
What's sad is thereâs probably a decent movie in here somewhere. The plot itself ainât bad, with perpetual loser Teddy (Hart) being mistaken for the âMan from Toronto,â but since the bad guys now think heâs the actual assassin, the FBI insists he continues the ruse to root out a Cuban dictator who plans an assassination with a deadly new weapon. Meanwhile, the Man from Toronto (real name: Randy) is trying to finish his mission of getting codes to activate the weapon, and uses Teddy to pose as himself. In different hands, the story might have even made a decent straight action thriller.
Instead, Hughes is apparently aiming to repeat the success he had with The Hitmanâs Bodyguard. But where that film pretty effectively blended action and comedy - aided by more refined characters - this one is irritating, implausible and interminable. While itâs tempting to blame Kevin Hart for all of its shortcomings, I think the fault lies exclusively on the laziness of those behind the camera, who simply relied on the comedian to do his thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment