Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain (FILM REVIEW)
Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain
Film Review
by Kam Williams
Hottest Stand-Up Comic Wows Sold-Out Garden in Concert Tour Finale
Move over Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy,
Steve Harvey and Katt Williams, the hottest black comic around right now is
Kevin Hart. The diminutive, 5’ 2” funnyman has skyrocketed to the heights of
showbiz ladder lately, making myriad memorable performances on both TV and
film.
This year on TV alone, he’s hosted
Saturday Night Live and launched a sitcom spoofing reality shows called Real
Husbands of Hollywood. On the big screen, he can currently be caught in the
ensemble comedy This Is the End, which comes close on the heels of hits like
Think Like a Man and The Five-Year Engagement.
Kevin
Hart: Let Me Explain is a concert flick featuring the best of his recent
concert tour across North America and Europe, with stops at ports-of-call as
far afield as Vancouver, Toronto,
Oslo, Copenhagen
and Amsterdam and Birmingham, England.
The film opens at a Mix and Mingle party where a frustrated Kevin finds himself
accused of letting success go to his head.
That
confrontation eventually dissolves into a series of post concert shots all over
the world of fawning foreign fans with thick accents gushing about how much
they enjoyed his performance. But the bulk of the material was captured on
camera in front of a standing room only crowd at a sold-out Madison Square
Garden, the final stop on
the circuit.
Kevin’s
irreverent brand of observational humor involves opening up his private life
for public scrutiny. Employing the recurring theme, “Don’t judge me, let me
explain,” he reflects upon subjects ranging from being happily-divorced (“I
cheated. Do I regret it? No!”), to whether he likes dark-skinned girls (Yes), to
humping a bean bag while on Ecstasy, to dating advice (“The only thing you
don’t want in your house is a female who doesn’t trust you.”).
Be
forewarned, Kevin curses liberally and gratuitously sprinkles in the N-word
occasionally for further dramatic effect. The personal anecdotes he relates are
routinely engaging with satisfying payoffs, the only disappointment being that the
picture only lasts less than an hour if you subtract all the time devoted to
audience reaction shots.
Nevertheless,
you know a comedian has indeed arrived when his punch lines are periodically
punctuated by pyrotechnics on stage. And you know he’s still humble enough to remember
where he came from when tears can be seen streaming down his face as he takes
bows at Madison Square Garden.
Very Good
(3 stars)
Rated R
for sexuality, ethnic slurs and pervasive profanity
Running time: 75 minutes
Distributor: Summit Entertainment
To see a trailer for Kevin
Hart: Let Me Explain, visit:
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