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[tab title="Movie Review"]
The trailers for Night School looked so promising. With talented comic actors like Tiffany Haddish (Girls Trip) and Kevin Hart, how could they go wrong? Rob Riggle, rapper Fat Joe and Taran Killam of Saturday Night Live fame round out a usually funny ensemble cast, but they can only do so much with limited material. Given the amount of star improvisation and the fact that no fewer than six screenwriters penned Night School, the problem may be too many cooks in the proverbial kitchen. Whatever the reason is, the comedy doesn’t work overall; Tiffany’s talent in particular is wasted, as she’s too often turned into the straight woman in contrast to Kevin’s craziness.
Teddy Walker (Kevin Hart) has a successful career in sales and a beautiful, devoted girlfriend (Megalyn Echikunwoke). As shown in flashback, he’s gone through life easily charming people into giving him his way. But a fiery, explosive disaster at the store forces Teddy to look for a new job. The issue is he’s a high school dropout, who needs a GED to qualify for the finance job his friend offers. It doesn’t help that he has a learning disorder (or “learning herpes,” as he memorably calls it). Worse, Teddy has to deal with tough, no-nonsense teacher Carrie (Tiffany Haddish), and a principal who was once a hostile classmate (Taran Killam). Teddy’s sincerity and attempts to ingratiate himself with these two authority figures repeatedly fall flat. Further, as time goes on he struggles to hide the fact that he attends night school from Lisa, the sophisticated fiancée he fears will leave him if she finds out about his situation. Out of desperation, he accepts a job at Christian Chicken where he has to wear a ridiculous chicken costume (the faith-promoting restaurant brings Chick-Fil-A to mind). {googleads}
There are heartwarming lessons about kindness towards those with learning disabilities thrown in among the many puke, fart and body hair jokes. The writers also include plenty of slapstick physical humor, such as a wrestling match between Carrie and wimpy Teddy. Some scenes do pay off, like the characters’ rapid-fire verbal exchange when their convertibles are stopped in traffic. Here, the stars seem to enjoy themselves and it’s contagious. But times like these are too infrequent; most often, the jokes just don’t land. Unfortunately, Night School gets a flunking grade. Fans of Tiffany Haddish should watch the director’s previous comedy Girls Trip instead.
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[tab title="DVD Review"]
DVD Details:
Home Video Distributor: Universal Studios
Available on Blu-ray - January 1, 2019
Screen Formats: 2.39:1
Subtitles: French, Spanish; Subtitles for the Hearing Impaired: English
Audio: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Discs: DVD Disc; single disc
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A
Supplements:
Commentary:
- Feature Commentary with Director Malcolm D. Lee. The director’s tone is strangely apologetic throughout. He keeps returning to the theme of how difficult it is to film a successful comedy. He might as well come out and say, “Sorry, but we did the best we could.”
Special Features:
- Deleted Scenes with Commentary by Director Malcolm D. Lee. These scenes are better off on the editing room floor, especially given the extended cut’s already long runtime.
- Alternate Opening with Commentary by Director Malcolm D. Lee
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[tab title="Film Details"]
MPAA Rating: PG - 13 for crude and sexual content throughout, language, some drug references and violence
Runtime: 111 mins
Director: Malcolm D. Lee
Writer: Kevin Hart, Harry Ratchford
Cast: Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish, Rob Riggle
Genre: Comedy
Tagline:
Memorable Movie Quote: "Aren't you a little old to be a pop-star?"
Theatrical Distributor: Universal Pictures
Official Site: https://www.nightschoolmovie.com/
Release Date: September 28, 2018
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: January 1, 2019
Synopsis: A group of high school dropouts are forced to attend night school in hope that they'll pass the GED exam to finish high school.
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[tab title="Art"]
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