Get Hard is a crude farce based on racial stereotypes, homophobia, and prison rape. Starring Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, and produced by Adam McKay; the film plays out like a bunch of improvised skits. This is note for note, the same formula we've seen from every, single, McKay and Ferrell collaboration. Insert Anchorman 1, 2, Stepbrothers, The Other Guys, and Talladega Nights. Get Hard has been getting a lot of criticism. The political correctness police are out in droves to condemn it. While it is incredibly stupid and juvenile, I laughed, I laughed a few times. I laughed enough to actually recommend this film.

Ferrell stars as the uber one-percenter, James King. He runs a lucrative investment firm, has a trophy wife (Allison Brie), lives in a palace with servants who hate his guts, and is a genuine ignoramus when it comes to race. Kevin Hart costars as Darnell, a hardworking family man who owns the car wash in the building where James works. When James is set up for investment fraud, he doesn't accept a plea deal and is given a decade in San Quentin. Paralyzed with a fear of prison rape, James approaches Darnell; because he's black, to prepare him for incarceration. Darnell, having never even gotten a parking ticket, concocts a ludicrous prison readiness program.

Get Hard is attempting to be a pointed satire about race. Rich white guy, poor black guy, gangbangers, white supremacists, servile Latinos, homosexuals at brunch, it's a stereotype buffet. The film offers no insights or resolutions, just sight gags, nudity, male nudity of course, and bumbling hijinks. Ferrell and Hart, who eke out some semblance of chemistry, are comedic enough to illicit laughs throughout the stupidity. In the end, no one expected this film to be insightful or meaningful, so a few laughs are good enough to keep it afloat.

During my career I've had the opportunity to observe Will Ferrell and Adam McKay on set twice. They have a formula where they stick to the script for a few takes, then improvise to get the most laughs out of every scene. Then they cut the most humorous bits together in the editing room. This is why all of their movies seem like a collection of skits. And why they were able to edit together a second, markedly different version of Anchorman 2. This methodology has worked for them, but the truly great Will Ferrell films were the ones with the best original screenplays and firm direction. Taking Stranger than Fiction and The Lego Movie as an example, Ferrell's talents are best used when he works with a filmmaker who's able to bottle his energy and funnel into the written performance.

Get Hard has its chuckles and should be entertaining to the masses. I expected nothing, so wasn't disappointed. Nor was I offended by their characterizations. Its just a stupid movie people, not a treatise on race relations. Now if you want to see a better film along the same plot lines, go rent Rob Schneider's Big Stan. That movie is vastly superior in every way.