The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema & Tv
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
      • Shows
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMovie reviews

Night School

Night School | Movie review
27 September 2018
Musanna Ahmed
Avatar
Musanna Ahmed
27 September 2018

Movie and show review

Musanna Ahmed

Night School

★★★★★

Release date

28th September 2018

Certificate

UPG12A1518 title=

Links

Website

Kevin Hart meets his match in Night School with Tiffany Haddish, who can contain his manic energy because she has so much of it herself. Though Malcolm D Lee’s latest comedy doesn’t pit the two against each other for a potential showdown for the ages, it instead places the two heavyweight comedians in a position where they effortlessly support each other rather than threaten to upstage one another.

Teddy Walker (Hart) is a successful BBQ salesman who struggles financially – primarily because of his mathematical inabilities – and following a troubling incident at a restaurant is moved to join night school where he can get his GED and move on to something better. His education is supported by a gig at a Christian-themed fast food restaurant and his status pales in comparison to out-of-his-league fiancée Lisa (Megalyn Echikunwoke). The class is taught by Carrie (Haddish) and he’s joined by a motley crew of students, stereotypical of college dropouts. There’s the one who left because she got pregnant (Mary Lynn Rajskub), the one who got locked up (Romany Malco), the drug dealer (Anne Winters) etc.

Teddy, on the other hand, had significant learning disabilities, which resulted in terrible grades. There’s room here for a worthwhile depiction of dyslexia through humour but that space stays totally unoccupied, when the presented solution to help Teddy is something else entirely and altogether problematic. That is until an effective twist, one of the best moments of the movie, turns things upside down.

The central character is basically an inverse of the star’s role in Central Intelligence but this flick lacks the sweetness and thematic depth of that one. There’s no real sense of romance between Teddy and Lisa because it’s difficult to decipher why she’s attracted to him nor does she have a character of her own; whenever conflict arises, she’s not the one who gets to make a decision about the issue.

Every character around is there to serve Kevin Hart’s purpose in some way, which is a waste because he’s surprisingly the least entertaining in a cast that includes other funny folks such as Rob Riggle and a scene-stealing Taran Killam as the principal of the school. Maybe Night School would have benefited from Tiffany Haddish in the lead, flipping the “Kevin Hart is Kevin Hart” quality of the film around for something fresh and funnier. A few funny moments but ultimately forgettable.

★★★★★

Musanna Ahmed

Night School is released nationwide on 28th September 2018.

Watch the trailer for Night School here:

Related Itemsreview

More in Movie reviews

Foster Boy

★★★★★
Jim Compton-Hall
Read More

Judas and the Black Messiah

★★★★★
James Humphrey
Read More

Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell

★★★★★
Jake Cudsi
Read More

The United States Vs Billie Holiday

★★★★★
BP Flanagan
Read More

The Sinners

★★★★★
Emma Kiely
Read More

What Lies Below

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

Ginny & Georgia

★★★★★
Emma Kiely
Read More

Ayouni

★★★★★
Jacob Kennedy
Read More

Blush

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Movie and show review

Musanna Ahmed

Night School

★★★★★

Release date

28th September 2018

Certificate

UPG12A1518 title=

Links

Website

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Smith & Burrows – Only Smith & Burrows Is Good Enough
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Creation Stories
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Detroit Stories – Alice Cooper
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Gatsby at Cadogan Hall: An interview with Jodie Steele and Ross William Wild
    Theatre
  • Wrong Turn
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • My Wonderful Wanda
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Foster Boy
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Your Honor
    ★★★★★
    other
  • Maximo Park – Nature Always Wins
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The most important inventions of the 21st century
    Tech & Sport
  • My Favourite War
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Typical at Soho Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Detroit Stories – Alice Cooper
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Minari
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • West End Musical Drive In Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Antony and Cleopatra at the National Theatre | Theatre review
KT Tunstall at the Jazz Cafe | Live review