I gave serious thought to trotting out the review for Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain and seeing if anybody would notice. Turns out the problem is that I would notice. Rats.
Years ago, my wife gave me her cell phone with explicit instructions to call her once I’d reached my destination. I failed. Keep in mind this was before every.single.person in North America owned a cell phone. I still wouldn’t own one for a full two years after this incident and using a cell phone did not come naturally to me. Yes, this is not a good excuse; my wife was right to be pissed at me. I’m simply saying that if you’re asked to do something you’ve never done before that is not instrumental to your immediate well-being upon arrival, you might just forget, too. Six hours later, my brain kicked in and I discovered twenty-five (25!) missed calls. Uh oh.
Kevin Hart: What Now? contains a bit about a failure to check in due to a ping-pong accident. Hart knows the impossibility of claiming innocence with a ping-pong related concussion as your alibi. Compounded by his failure on several counts, he awoke to dozen of messages and screened his own personal 2”x2” horror film reviewing the unread texts from the previous night when he failed to check in. Comedy is always about finding common ground, huh?
This film actually begins with an extended skit. Kevin Hart parodies both Casino Royale and The Equalizer before his live show; the parodies aren’t wonderful, despite the name-drop cameos omnipresent within them. The best moments come not necessarily from previous and would-be Bond girl Halle Berry, but from an insult exchange at the poker table between Hart and “black Iron Man” (Don Cheadle). Kevin Hart lives in a very weird world – he can be James 
Bond on film; he can be catapulted onto a sold-out football stadium stage in a supersized gold chain where a gold microphone awaits him, and yet his best humor still spans from observations like being a novice ordering in Starbucks: “Stop rushing me! Can’t you see I’m taking a test here?”
Two things I love about Kevin Hart stand-ups are 1) that he’s self-deprecating to a fault. 2) His themes always come full circle. Honestly, I don’t think he hit home with his first few sets of jokes about being afraid of his own driveway and a punk raccoon. If you give Kevin Hart a chance, however, his self-references to earlier material become more poignant in otherwise irrelevant circumstances. And Kevin’s cowardice is constantly on display; even if I don’t always find it funny, I will always find it endearing as so few are willing to voice their insecurities quite like this man.
I didn’t find What’s Next? as funny as Let Me Explain. It would seem I’m not alone in that opinion. Is Hart falling out of touch with the common man? Is movie stardom finally getting to him? Or did he just have a bad day at the box office? Honestly, the direction didn’t help him much – the paying audience present is going to relish whatever he feeds them, but people like me are going to see the flaws in the excessive use of foul language and a cheesy video background. I think there’s enough here to continue encouraging Kevin Hart stand-ups, but let’s not push it … the best reason to see a Kevin Hart stand up is if you’re given a choice between one and Ride Along 2.
♪A summer’s day
In a cavernous arena
Kev stands alone
Spouting from his stool to the throng below
An occasionally silent crowd his show
Hart likes to talk
Hart likes to gesture
He takes falls
Accepting his delusion
The word is “humiliate”
Kevin lives for friendship, friendship causes pain
Relaying all his weaknesses like rain
Hart likes to talk
Hart likes to gesture♫
Rated R, 96 Minutes
D: Leslie Small, Tim Story
W: Kevin Hart & Joey Wells & Harry Ratchford
Genre: Little guy, big mouth, huge audience
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Kevin Hart fans
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: “I didn’t go to the movies to see stand-up comedy”
♪ Parody inspired by “I Am a Rock”
