THE FILM:

Kevin Hart is a funny guy, but his latest theatrical comedy, Night School, is grating and repetitive, clocking in at an interminable 111 minutes. Hart channels his seemingly nonstop energy into Teddy Walker, a high school dropout living duplicitously to avoid sharing this secret with girlfriend Lisa (Megalyn Echikunwoke). When he gets laid off from a steady job, Teddy realizes he will never find acceptable employment without his G.E.D. He enrolls in night school at his alma mater, where the entire program is taught by no-nonsense Carrie (Tiffany Haddish), and Principal Stewart (Taran Killam) looks to get even with Teddy for his previous bullying. Along with his slacker classmates, Teddy quickly joins the highway to failure yet again.

There is a pretty funny scene early on where Teddy, Lisa and their friends dine at an expensive restaurant. Teddy feigns a desire to pick up the tab, then has to weasel his way out of it by reporting to management that his food is tainted. He gets the waiter fired, and is shocked to discover the same man, Luis (Al Madrigal), in his night school class. Other classmates include unhappy housewife Theresa (Mary Lynn Rajskub), defiant hipster Mila (Anne Winters), shady Jaylen (Romany Malco), weird Mackenzie (Rob Riggle), and an inmate who joins via video chat, Bobby (Fat Joe). While Principal Stewart looks to push Teddy out of the program, Carrie does her best to motivate the class. Carrie takes no prisoners in her teaching methods, but proves a caring leader. She reluctantly expels Teddy from night school after the class steals an exam answer key, a deed for which Teddy takes the sole blame.

Director Malcolm D. Lee comes off the high of his critically acclaimed and financially successful Girl's Trip, which also features Haddish, into this middling comedy. The PG-13 rating restricts the cast from truly cutting loose, and the screenplay, which was penned by six writers, including Hart, is pedestrian and dull. Lee's idea of comedy here is to have Hart yell a bunch and join his cast mates in unsuccessful sight gags. No, we did not need to see a character throwing up all over another. I would argue Hart is playing the same character here that he has in a host of other films, but that is not really true. For whatever reason, Hart plays Teddy on cruise control, with few hints of wit or comedic timing.

The plot of Night School is threadbare, and ends up rolling into sappy waters as Teddy apologizes to Carrie, discovers he has an actual learning disability, and works to pass his final exams. Haddish is probably the best part of this film, and elevates the material over the grade-school antics of her co-stars. This is a weak, disposable comedy that neither works as a Hart-starring vehicle nor an ensemble comedy. The supporting characters are annoying and poorly written, and Hart does not seem to have much fun either. Inmate Bobby can shut down his video feed into the classroom at will, and I wanted to shut off Night School after the first half hour.

THE 4K ULTRA HD:

PICTURE:

This is not a title that screams out for a 4K Ultra HD release, but I'm OK with studios pushing the format forward. The 2.39:1/2160p/HEVC/H.265 transfer offers HDR10. Culled from a 2K source, this 4K image is certainly competent. The image is bright, crisp and clean throughout, with bold, nicely saturated colors, accurate skin tones and spot-on highlights. Sharpness and clarity are strong; close-ups reveal abundant facial details and fabric textures, and wide shots are deep and crystal clear. Black levels are a little anemic in spots, but the 4K image does offer a noticeable uptick in detail from its HD counterpart. I did notice a couple spots of aliasing, but compression artifacts are completely absent.

SOUND:

The DTS:X soundtrack, which I sampled in 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, is also competent, and adequately presents this dialogue-heavy production. There are plenty of comedic moments that call upon the surrounds for effect, and effects and dialogue pans traverse the sound scape. The soundtrack and score are integrated appropriately, and there are no issues with distortion or element crowding. Spanish and French surround tracks are also included, as are English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.

PACKAGING AND EXTRAS:

This two-disc set includes the 4K Ultra HD disc, a Blu-ray and an HD digital copy. The discs are packed in a black 4K case that is wrapped in a slipcover. Each disc includes both the Extended Cut (1:56:01) and the Theatrical Cut (1:51:16) of the film. The majority of the extras are found on the Blu-ray disc. Those include an Audio Commentary by Malcolm D. Lee; an Alternate Opening (6:29/HD); Deleted Scenes (13:27 total/HD); a Gag Reel (11:04/HD); Night School's in Session! (13:33/HD), about the characters; Who's the Student? Who's the Teacher (2:33/HD), about Teddy and Carrie; Prom Night Revisited (3:07/HD), about the prom sequence; Cap ‘N Gown ‘N Giggles (2:08/HD), about the graduation scene; Making of the Dance Battle (3:45/HD); Christian Chicken (0:40/HD), which is a commercial for Teddy's employer in the film; Game Over (1:46/HD), about Maya's character; and an Extended Performance of "El Sueno" (2:40/HD).

FINAL THOUGHTS:

A backslide for Malcolm D. Lee after his successful Girl's Trip, this Kevin Hart-starring comedy is a dud. Poorly scripted and restrained by its rating, Night School elicits few laughs. Skip It.

William lives in Burlington, North Carolina, and looks forward to a Friday-afternoon matinee.