Film Review: Night School

After Girls Trip, I expected Tiffany Haddish to blow up in the same way a lot of comedians do when they become the highlight of a hit movie, like Melissa McCarthy for a recent example. Disappointingly so, it turns out not to be the case, since she’s only popped up in a few supporting role here and there. But with Night School, she is reunited with Girls Trip helmer, Malcolm D. Lee, and working alongside Kevin Hart, who has been one of the most prominent comedic performers in recent memory, and of course, takes the lead here. And they’re working with a concept that’s despite being well worn territory having been used in films like High Time, Back To School, Billy Madison, and the recent Life Of The Party, it still provides a solid template for comedians to do their thing.

This time, we follow Teddy (Kevin Hart), a high school dropout who is also – up until recently – a successful appliance salesman in a happy relationship with his fiancé, Lisa (Megalyn Echikunwoke). After an incident leaves him unemployed, he is forced to take night school, without Lisa knowing, to earn his GED with the help of his instructor, Carrie (Tiffany Haddish).

The premise is solid enough, and there are moments where it all comes together, especially once we’re with the other night school students played by Rob Riggle, Romany Malco, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Anne Winters, Al Madrigal, and Fat Joe. However, those moments tend to be few and far between. The film has plenty of manic energy, which is practically Hart’s m.o., but that energy lacks focus. Instead, like a lot of mediocre comedies, that energy gets wasted on indulgent improvisation, which can be effective for appropriate moments, but seems to largely be used as a substitute for properly constructed jokes.

It doesn’t help that Teddy is by far the least compelling character in the entire film, which would make sense if he was playing the straight man, but he’s just applying his usual loud and expressive shtick that he’s known for. He seems to be on autopilot for most of his performance here, and it ends up taking away the impact that some of the gags should’ve had. Granted, he isn’t completely to blame for this, since he’s not only a producer on this, he even shares his screenwriting credit with a whopping five other people. It does feel like the lack of focus and momentum is due to likelihood that the script had been written and rewritten so many times that all the distinctive touches were scrubbed off. Though, I obviously can’t say for sure.

I will say that there is one very interesting thing about Teddy. Unlike many comedies where we have a dopey main character being dopey for the sake of it. Night School makes the choice to actually acknowledge that Teddy deals with several learning disorders, and that it’s something he will have to work on since there isn’t a cure. It’s something you don’t see often in films like this, and I think it addresses his struggles from an empathetic standpoint. Although, that doesn’t necessarily stop the film from continuing to put Teddy in humorous situations, making the audience laugh at his expense. So, two steps forward, one step back, I guess.

Thankfully, the supporting characters were funny enough to make it all significantly less painful to sit through. Whenever we get into shenanigans with the other classmates, I found myself laughing at all their distinctive quirks and oddball qualities. Taram Killam also makes a big impression as Stewart, the school principal and former classmate of Teddy’s, who still holds a grudge from way back. Admittedly, these characters are portrayed as broadly as possible, only hinting at nuances that the film doesn’t seem willing to explore, but so long as I was having a good time with them, I didn’t mind. Tiffany Haddish makes the most out of weak material. She brings a lot of personality, sometimes traits that wouldn’t make sense with her character, but when she goes into teacher mode, she rocks it.

I wouldn’t say Night School is a terrible movie, but it isn’t good and it doesn’t come together in any cohesive or significant way. As Lee’s follow up to Girls Trip, it’s pretty disappointing, and it lacks the rich and well drawn characters that made that film such a success (and it is worth noting that it only had two screenwriters, and not six). It is a film that is best seen with a crowd, so it can make the lesser moments at least a bit more palatable. But on its own, some solid comic performances are enough to make the film not a total waste of time, but it still remains a waste of potential.