Teddy Walker is a successful salesman whose life takes an unexpected turn when he accidentally blows up his place of employment. Forced to attend night school to get his GED, Teddy soon finds himself dealing with a group of misfit students, his former high school nemesis and a feisty teacher who doesn't think he's too bright.
I'll start of by saying I'm not surprised to see Kevin Hart in a comedy film with a strange and unique story line! Night school is a really interesting comedy film that aims to make all types of audiences laugh through its outrageous comical dialogue and rather strange scenes, but as the first film I have seen with Kevin Hart in I could definitely say that I was not surprised in the slightest! It was definitely the type of film that I expected to see him in. This film is a comedy film, and the main purpose of a comedy is pretty obvious, to make people laugh. However the main question is, did Kevin Hart manage to get some laughs or did he fail the exam? Here are my thoughts.
As usual, I'll start with what I liked and enjoyed about this film. I really liked how throughout, we were shown throwbacks and earlier scenes of Teddy's life and him actually taking the original examination. These scenes were shown throughout the film and always had a slight relevance to the current scene that was on, but what I liked about the flashbacks was how much it seemed to add context and how well it strengthened the characters. Mainly because we were given an idea of why everything was happening, so we had a reason for all of Teddy's actions and therefore it allowed us to be able to follow him as a character developing throughout the film really nicely and fluidly. In this manner the film was able to show the 'Nothing to something' transformation really nicely, the film achieved this by showing both Teddy and the rest of the Night School group as losers and failures in life and outside of school, but throughout the film we see these characters adapt and develop in front of our very eyes and even though it was a little cliche, I felt that it was really engaging and made the film exciting to watch. These character relationships were really great and through excellent parts of character dialogue, it really helped to get all of the characters involved into the film really nicely. It felt as if they all had a purpose and their own little background story - again, adding to the authenticity and entertainment factor of the film. The character dialogue was also hilarious, I found myself laughing at lots of different things that were said throughout the film by all of the characters, but it didn't just make the film funny but it also helped to build a profile of a group of genuine friends who were trying to pass the exam. The jokes and characters in this film were really funny and guaranteed to make all types of audiences laugh, for sure!!
But the plot was also basic too, but portrayed in a positive manner which helped us grasp the 'Zero to Hero' concept that Teddy had, that at the beginning of the film he was a character with something to prove and when he finally passed the exam, it gave us as an audience a sense of relief and happiness. This was because we had experienced his journey to that stage and seeing the transformation of characters personalities was really satisfying and entertaining to watch unravel in front of our eyes. The wide variety of different character personalities and types also helped to make the film really engaging, funny and most importantly memorable. Every time a character was on the screen, it felt like they were there for a reason and we as an audience had a good idea of the characteristics of each character, this allowed us to be able to predict what they would do next - allowing us to get actively involved within the film. But the combination of a funny set of characters and a basic plot can usually end up with the plot being difficult to grasp, but here it was so simple but relayed to us in a fairly slow manner so that we as an audience could easily keep up and understand what was actually going on during scenes, but most importantly the plot was straightforward and easy to interpret. It really seemed to ignite the characters personalities by giving them something to prove, and by showing them with a dream at the beginning and achieving this at the end, there was an element of satisfaction and feeling proud at the end when we have seen the characters develop into who they wanted to be. There almost seemed to be a strange similarity in the characters where the younger characters seemed like young versions of the older characters, and this allowed us to see 'what they wish they were' really nicely, it was done really subtly but I feel that it had a great impact on the characters. But the film was full of hilarious and great scenes, it definitely succeeded at making the audience laugh and it also entertained us, but seeing the characters transform and a mixture of emotions throughout the film really made it a great view. Some of these emotions included sadness, laughter and nerves and the combination of three was executed really nicely to help portray the intended emotion that was being relayed on screen to the audience and it was really effective. The film was entertaining for sure, it definitely lived up to its comedy title.
The film was funny yes, but on the other hand, it wasn't made amazingly well either. For example, there were a few issues with the characters and how they communicated. For many parts of the film, the character dialogue just seemed rather unprofessional and fairly rushed. It definitely didn't help to really push our engagement with the characters at the beginning of the film as effectively as possible. But there were other instances throughout, such as poor and limp descriptions and conversations that just weren't entertaining or funny, which made some of the conversations a little confusing as they would be funny one minute and questionable the next.
The characters were good yes, but the types of character in the film were far too cliche and unrealistic, the film definitely relied on our imagination for Teddy to crash a Porsche, blow up a BBQ shop and numerous other stunts, only for his Fiancee to not care about any of them. It just seemed as if the relationship factor was pushed just a little too much which made some of the relationships in the film fairly questionable and not very convincing at all.
There seemed to be a few other gaps in the plot as well, even though it moved slowly. There were elements where the plot seemed to jump around and left me questioning what I had missed during the film for the characters to be in a new situation, although these weren't too severe. My main problem with the film however, was simply how cliche and normal it was. It was hilarious yes, but I would've liked to have seen a bit more experimentation with the films plot/characters or something else as it felt that the creators of the film seemed to play it a little safe with this one. If they would've challenged and pushed the boundaries then it would've been an amazing film, many elements of the film relied upon the audience just going along with the film too. I mean it wasn't the best film in terms of plot but the main point of a comedy is to entertain and make the audience laugh which is exactly what it did so I can't complain too much.
Overall, I would give this film a 7.5 . I feel that the score is fair with respect to the great effect that seeing the characters develop through perspective camera angles but also due to the fact that it was a comedy and it was really funny!! The film was also really clever, it used subtle hints such as the 'zero to hero' story, as well as having Teddy's girlfriend being taller than him to show dominance and how she was the main breadwinner in the relationship. The characters and overall film were really entertaining and funny though, even if the film would've been questionable in another genre. Many of the parts of the film relied upon the audience not really challenging it and simply relaxing, and the combination of this and the element of 'playing it safe' and not taking any risks really limit how good this film could be. I would recommend this film however, it was funny and if you expect to be entertained then you definitely won't be let down, but if you're looking for an immersive and breathtaking film, you won't find it here.
Thanks for reading my review, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did watching the film and writing this. Have a lovely day. :)
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