By Paul Hall
Look for a job, and it’s everywhere — high school diploma or GED required. Most jobs require one of these pieces of paper. When an individual doesn’t have that diploma, it takes a GED to qualify. Night School, in theaters now, helps us to prepare for that all-important GED exam.
Tests in an educational setting have never agreed with Teddy Walker (Kevin Hart). Since walking out of a practice standardized test, Teddy has wanted to avoid anything that remotely has to do with education and testing. But he has a future thanks to his current job as a successful salesman. Teddy’s boss has decided that, once he retires, Teddy will get the business. But then Teddy’s future explodes in front of his eyes. Now out of a job and searching for a career, Teddy knows he must get his GED, and that means night school.
And so, Teddy heads back to the school he once attended as a young man. It’s there Teddy encounters Stewart (Taran Killam), a jealous ex-classmate who is Piedmont High School’s principal. While Stewart want to keep him out, the night school teacher is there for anyone who wants to take her class.
Carrie (Tiffany Haddish) teaches at the high school during the day and runs the GED prep class at night. As a teacher, Carrie wants everyone to succeed and is quick to discover that Teddy has a learning disability. Upon finding this out, she does what all good teachers do and figures out how to reach him. But can he overcome his past struggles to succeed, even with her help?
Hart and Haddish are a dream combination. They are the two actors you would want to lead any comedy. But here in Night School, they didn’t burst off the screen as I would like. The scenes with the two of them should have been the top moments in the film, and yet they fell a little short of expectations.
I love the supporting cast here, with Killam, Rob Riggle, Romany Malco, Keith David, Mary Lynn Rajskub and others each getting their moments in the sun. At times, Night School is quite funny; however the whole of the film was very uneven. Many moments felt more like little vignettes that suppressed the flow of the film.
Despite the lot of very talented individuals, Night School needed to do some extra credit for an A. Instead, it did just enough to earn a passing grade.
Paul’s Grade: C+
Night School
Rated PG-13
Stars: Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish, Rob Riggle
Director: Malcolm D. Lee
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