208.
Night School
5/10
The title of this movie is going to give us exactly what we expect. Kevin Hart and a bunch of seemingly familiar faces are heading to night school to further themselves after dropping out in their younger days. With Tiffany Haddish, who seems to be hot property within the terrible comedies floating around, will be playing Carrie the teacher and no-one else really mentioning right now, I don't have too much hope for the movie. It can bring some laughs, with is the point of a comedy but sometimes, they may need a little more. The director, Malcolm D. Lee has always spouted out some black comedies and if I'm honest, I haven't enjoyed one. Let's find out if we are going to get a lesson in laughter.
The storyline is a very, very simple one. There isn't too much need to get into it but as you can imagine, it mainly revolves around the night school. Before we get into class, we are giving a little bit of a background into Hart's character. Teddy is the name and not being great at school is the game. Back in 2001, we see Teddy settle down to his SAT's and failing miserably. He can't concentrate to revise and only his Grandmother has sympathy for him. His Grandfather and twin sister just think it's all excuses. The next day in the school hall, Teddy sits down to his test and with in minutes, declares he is done with school and walks out. We then change to the present day and Teddy is seen driving a sports car and you instantly think he's 'made it' somehow. He's dropping his girlfriend Lisa off to her office and Teddy works as a successful salesman. It's a barbeque shop and the owner claims that one day, he'll leave the company to Teddy. Later that night, he's out for meal with his girlfriend and her friends and Teddy offers to pay. That's until he realises the price. He rips out his pubes, plants them in his dessert and then tries to get it all for free. The head waiter, Luis, believes he planted them himself and argues the point until the Head Chef comes out and believes Teddy, firing the waiter and giving them the meal for free. Even the friends didn't believe Teddy. The same night Teddy takes Lisa to the shop and plans a proposal but when he pops the cork on the champers after getting a yes, it smashes against a BBQ handle, turns on the gas and gas, along with the candles doesn't work well and the building explodes with Teddy inside, sending him hurling through the air and into the windshield of his car.
Time to find a new job and he heads off to his mate Marvin's company to ask for a job. He BBQ boss took the insurance money and legged it to Florida. Teddy, not having a GED, means that a job is hard to come by and it's the same with Marvin's company. Teddy knows he needs to get one but goes back to Lisa and lies, telling her that he's got the job. He heads off to sign up for school and in the traffic, comes across a woman talking really loud on hands free and has a falling out with her. This woman is Carrie Carter, played by Tiffany Haddish and we already know that she plays the teacher. On arrival on the school, things go from bad to worse and the Principal is someone who Teddy used to make fun of in school. He relishes the chance to deny Teddy his GED but saying that they don't offer night school there. As he is showing him the door, they bump into Carrie and discuss why she is there when she is the night school teacher. Teddy obviously becomes aware that the Principal is full of shit and instantly enrolls. Carrie always pulls up the Principal for trying to act gangster with his use of language and body language. This is a running theme throughout the movie.
Once the lessons start, we are introduced to the other students, one being the waiter from the beginning, which is the obvious conflict other than Teddy and Carrie. He tries to get ahead by bringing in tacos for Carrie but she ends up handing them out to everyone instead. She doesn't like this approach at all. We have the waiter, a mother of three named Teresa, Jaylen who is worried about a robot apocalypse, Molly who is trying to avoid jail time, MacKenzie who is getting his GED to show his son not to make the same mistakes he did when young and finally Bobby, who is played by Fat Joe, who is in jail and learning through Skype. In the meantime, Teddy finds a job as an advertiser at a chicken shack, dressing as a chicken and spinning a sign.
He also has to sneak around to hide it all from Lisa. This is a story that never ends well and it's only a matter of time until she finds out. During the first lesson, Bobby is attacked in jail and the Principal walks in to see that Teddy has enrolled. He sits in as Teddy is called up to work at the board, struggling, until Carrie gives him a hint, promising that it would be the only time.
Knowing that he is screwed, Teddy tries to convince the other students to steal the GED answers for the test and they all meet up to do so. Mac goes hard and chokes out a janitor for no reason. They all get to the Principal's office and all have to hide as he enters.
Teddy notices that the Principal is heading onto Facebook and adds Lisa as a friend. The Janitor wakes back up and starts screaming, leading to a window for everyone to escape. Stewart, the Principal, puts the school on lockdown and there is no option but for everyone to escape to the roof and make a giant leap to safety. Mac tries the jump, fails and messes up his arm, with Jaylen seeing the evidence and spewing on him to good measure. Carries finds out what happened and Teddy owns up so the others can stay in class. He is kicked out and this is the turning point in the movie that we are about to see all the badness. He meets with Carrie in private and asks for another chance. She finally agrees, running some tests on him first and finding out that he is multiple learning difficulties. We are actually on the up as Teddy is put through extra tests to prepare and starts to get on with his classmates.
As things take a turn for the best, the class attend the school dance, bringing out some old school moves and wowing the students. Carrie and Teddy share a dance but it's interrupted when Lisa turns up. Stewart has invited her to come and check out the school for renovations, which is her day job. Teddy is forced to explain himself and Lisa doesn't take it well, mostly because he felt he had to impress her and not just being himself. She gives him his ring back and advises that he doesn't come home. He must return to his Grandparent's home.
Teddy notices that the Principal is heading onto Facebook and adds Lisa as a friend. The Janitor wakes back up and starts screaming, leading to a window for everyone to escape. Stewart, the Principal, puts the school on lockdown and there is no option but for everyone to escape to the roof and make a giant leap to safety. Mac tries the jump, fails and messes up his arm, with Jaylen seeing the evidence and spewing on him to good measure. Carries finds out what happened and Teddy owns up so the others can stay in class. He is kicked out and this is the turning point in the movie that we are about to see all the badness. He meets with Carrie in private and asks for another chance. She finally agrees, running some tests on him first and finding out that he is multiple learning difficulties. We are actually on the up as Teddy is put through extra tests to prepare and starts to get on with his classmates.
As things take a turn for the best, the class attend the school dance, bringing out some old school moves and wowing the students. Carrie and Teddy share a dance but it's interrupted when Lisa turns up. Stewart has invited her to come and check out the school for renovations, which is her day job. Teddy is forced to explain himself and Lisa doesn't take it well, mostly because he felt he had to impress her and not just being himself. She gives him his ring back and advises that he doesn't come home. He must return to his Grandparent's home.
Ted decides to give up on his GED because he was only doing it for Lisa. He's now a chicken full-time, until he is visited by Carrie and Stewart, where the later apologises for his actions and embarrassing him. Carrie demands that he takes the test and the next day, he shows up to take the exam. He does his hardest to compose himself and concentrate with the scene drawing to a close as the excited classmates show their results in the parking lot. Everyone passes except Teddy. Safe to say I didn't see that coming, little twist in there. We see him try the test several more times until finally he passes and everyone at the chicken joint celebrates. The night school then head to graduation, with Lisa in attendance. Teddy is picked to give a speech, he later apologises to Lisa and asks for them to have a fresh start, which she agrees too, kind of knowing that she may have put him under a bit of pressure. The class has some pictures and the movie ends with Stewart smashing some dance moves at the prom.
Scratch this down as a comedy that will be lost into others within a year. The storyline was ok, if not 95% predictable until part of the ending but then the main character ended up succeeding with his goal anyway. There was plenty of humour, some clever and some idiotic, which all would depend on the viewer whether they would find it funny or not. The movie was ok in that aspect from my opinion. It got me laughing a couple of times but I really cannot remember too much about which part these were a couple of weeks later, which isn't the best outcome. Each character did bring something different though, which I did enjoy. This meant that people could relate to more than one person in the movie and their struggles at times. Haddish played her usual, sarcastic role but when the time came for seriousness, it was delivered. I think we are now passed these types of movies and it felt like a 90's comedy at times and very much something we have already seen. Kevin Hart has done a lot better and will continue to do a lot better once this movie has been forgotten about.
No comments:
Post a Comment