KEVIN HART DIGS DEEP IN COMEDY-DRAMA

Kevin Hart’s latest film has hit theaters and there’s not one “short” joke to be had this time around. “The Upside,” directed by Neil Burger, is actually a comedy-drama.

Adapted from a French film of the same premise, “The Intouchables,” and based on the real life story of  Philippe Pozzo di Borgo, a French businessman who became a quadriplegic after a paragliding accident, and his caregiver, Abdel Sellou, The Upside is an Americanized telling of the original 2012 film.

Hart stars as Dell, a former thief on parole, and Bryan Cranston as Philip, a wealthy quadriplegic in search of a new caregiver. The two meet during a job interview where Dell presents himself as the worst candidate for the job, but is chosen anyway by Philip.

The two begin their unlikely friendship as they learn to adapt to each other and come out of their shells, while we learn more about Philip’s past and his current state of depression.

While Hart has built his career on comedy, this time there’s a little more gravitas to the story, which is refreshing to see out of a Kevin Hart movie.

But don’t worry: If you’re a diehard for Hart’s comedy you’ll be pleased to hear that there’s still plenty of it throughout, although the quality of the actual humor is up for debate.

Most of the drama during the course of this film is strictly portrayed by Cranston, as one might guess. As usual, his performance is pretty great and his relationship with Hart is actually pretty enjoyable to watch play out onscreen.

Hart’s dramatic performance in this film still leaves something to be desired, though, as his character is just a copy paste of your average lowlife, deadbeat dad who can’t hold a job. He will play serious, but the material he’s given here just doesn’t provide enough depth for him to really test his dramatic chops.

The film as a whole functions quite well, though, aside from a few lame jokes here and there, a number of dead-end plot points, and a couple confusing scenes. There are actually a fair amount of chuckle-worthy jokes scattered throughout, and Cranston is a joy to watch, playing surprisingly well with Hart’s character in the film.

When all is said and done however, this movie is nothing special. It’s worth going to see if you’ve already seen everything else, but this is really more of a “wait till it comes to Netflix” or “rent it on Amazon” sort of film.

It’s perfectly passable and you’ll get a laugh out of it, but don’t expect to remember it as anything more than that.

This does make the future of Kevin Hart’s filmography more exciting, though, and it’ll be interesting to see where his next project will take him. 3/5 stars.