Film "Be strong": actors, roles, reviews and reviews

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Despite the fact that society has become more tolerant over the past 50 years, the problem of racism has not yet been resolved even in the most developed countries. In 2015, the comedy film "Be strong!" was released. He received mostly negative reviews, despite this, the creators of the picture managed to touch upon the problem of racial stereotypes in a comedic form, from which American society suffers to this day. So, it's worth sorting out the pros and cons of this film, which some consider a worthy analogue of Big Stan.

Film "Be strong!" (2015)

The film was directed by Ethan Cohen, known to the audience for the films "Tropic Troopers", "Men in Black-3" and "Idiocracy". In addition, Ethan became one of the authors of the script for the project "Be strong!". The actors who played the main roles are Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart.

This tape has become a kind of exception to the rule: critics smashed it to smithereens, but the audience liked it. Get hardgrossed just under $112 million at the box office, nearly three times the film's budget.

Storyline

The main character of the tape is a hedge fund manager James King. Over the years of honest work, he was able to make a fortune, won the heart of the boss's spoiled daughter and became a partner in his company.

However, unexpectedly, he is accused of fraud and offered to plead guilty and serve a year in prison. Being innocent, James refuses the deal with the prosecutor and goes to court, hoping to get an acquittal.

Unfortunately, all the evidence is against him and King is sentenced to 10 years in the harsh San Quentin State Penitentiary.

Going to meet James, the judge gives him a thirty-day reprieve before the conclusion, so that he puts all his affairs in order. Being a fairly sane person, King understands that real hell awaits him in prison. Therefore, for the last 30 thousand dollars, he hires a black car washer, Darnell Lewis, to teach him the tricks of the prison.

Despite James King's preconceived notion that most blacks went to jail, Darnell was a law-abiding citizen and family man all his life. However, in order to earn money for his business, he pretends to be an experienced convict and teaches James the laws of the prison. In the course of their studies, a friendship develops between the men, and Lewis helps King find the real culprit of embezzlement and return his honest name.

Problems and main images

Despite the fact that in the picture "Be strong!" actors quite often use foul language, and most of the jokes are related to the so-called "outhouse humor", this project makes fun of many problems of modern American society.

In the past few years, many films have been made about slavery and how blacks fought for freedom. Despite all this pathos, the citizens of the most democratic country in the world are still dominated by racial stereotypes. For example, a poor black guy in sportswear in a we althy neighborhood is perceived as a servant or a potential robber.

At the same time in the film "Be strong!" another stereotype of thinking of the average working American is also shown: almost any rich white financier accused of fraud is automatically considered guilty by the public by default.

For almost 100 minutes (the running time of the picture), racism covered up by tolerance is ridiculed in a rather caustic way. James King himself is a walking stereotype. He is smart and a bit arrogant, but completely unprepared to face real life. As a classic nouveau riche, James has a luxurious house, a latest model car, a personal trainer and a beautiful wife. In addition, he tries to be polite to the servants. However, when she sees a black guy in the parking lot, she mistakes him for a robber.

As a true Southerner, James believes implicitly in the American justice system. However, becoming her victim, decides to change. Under the supervision of Darnell, King learns to communicate withcriminals, because of which he gets into difficult situations. So one of the Mexican gangs offers him to commit murder in exchange for protection in prison. And when faced with skinheads, he almost dies at their hands. Despite his intelligence, King is not ready to believe that his father-in-law Martin, whom all the evidence points to, set him up.

King's black mentor Darnell Lewis is an anti-stereotype. He has a great family, he has not been in prison and, although he has no education, he dreams of opening his own car wash.

Living in a dysfunctional area, Lewis did not participate in any gang and continues to be a law-abiding citizen. His trouble is that he is black from a bad neighborhood, so residents of respectable areas immediately perceive him as a criminal.

Motion picture "Be strong!": actors and roles

Potentially convict James King, nicknamed Mayonnaise for the color of his skin, was played by famous B-comedy actor Will Ferrell. It is worth noting that the role of a slightly cowardly and naive financier was a success for Will. His character bears no resemblance to the selfish hooligan figure skater Chazz Michael Michaels in Blades of Glory: Stars on Ice or the villainous couturier Jacobim Mugata in Model Male 1, 2.

Ferrell's partner is black comedian Kevin Hart, known for his participation in several films of the Scary Movie series and similar projects (Epic Movie and Extreme Movie).

Edwina played the wife of Darnell LewisFindlay ("Law &Order", "Brothers and Sisters"), and a charming daughter - young Ariana Neal ("Horrible Ladies", "Nicky").

The villain who framed the protagonist was played by Craig T. Nelson, with whom Will Ferrell worked before the project "Be strong!". The actors starred together in Blades of Glory: Stars on Ice, however, then Craig got the role of Chazz's desperate coach.

The unreliable wife of the protagonist Alice was played by American Alison Brie ("In active search", "Hunting for work").

Also took part in the film "Be strong!" Cast: Greg Germann (Quicks, Job Hunt), Paul Ben-Victor (Daredevil, Chicago Med), Katya Gomez (The Price of Passion, Hot Man) and others.

Critic Reviews

This project received mostly negative reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 4.3 out of 10. Many reviews pointed out that the talents of the two fine wits who played the lead roles were wasted.

34 out of 100 - that's the Metacritic score for "Be Strong!" (Get Hard). The roles played by Will Ferrell and Kevinoy Hart were considered by critics from this site to be an adornment of the picture, but a huge amount of "outhouse jokes" spoiled the overall impression.

CinemaScore rated "Be strong!" to category B on a scale from A+ to F.

The Russian site "Kinopoisk" turned out to be more generous to this tape and gave it 5.691 points out of 10.

Audience reviews

As for ordinary people, theyperceived this picture is not so clear. Fans of the comedies "No Feelings", "Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Neighborhood" and "Fifty Shades of Black" took the tape with a bang.

Those who have a more refined taste, the picture "Be strong!" met less enthusiastically, calling it not funny, but rather banal and flat. In the reviews and reviews of such viewers, as a rule, the project is compared with "Big Stan". Most agree that Get Hard did not live up to the level of this tape.

At the same time, everyone who watched the picture says that the actors and roles of the film "Be strong!" - the main and indisputable advantage of the project.

Fun Facts

• Because of the similar plot to Big Stan, some people mistakenly consider Get Hard to be a remake of it. However, it is not. The script of the film is based on the original plot of the work of writers Adam McKay, Jay Martel and Ian Roberts.
• Official slogan of the picture: An education in incarceration (education for prison).
• Get Hard is Will Ferrell's third highest-grossing film in recent years.
• In "Be strong!" Farrell also acted as a producer on the project.

Unfortunately, Get Hard was never able to repeat the success of "Big Stan", but financially it became more successful than the picture with Rob Schneider. This audience love, which the film managed to win, despite the negative reviews of critics, once again confirmed the fact that the decisive role is still played not by money and marketing, but by the opinion of ordinary people,who came to the cinema to watch a movie.