Saturday, March 19, 2016

Let Me Explain (why Kevin Hart can be greater)



     This week saw the release of the trailer for Central Intelligence, a buddy cop movie starring Kevin Hart and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. If you follow either of the two on Instagram, you might remember them recording their hijinks while on set last spring. 
Here’s a question I’ve wrestled with ever since I finished seeing Think Like a Man in theaters, when will Kevin Hart carry a movie on his own?

     Let me just say that I am in no way discrediting Kevin Hart’s success or belittling it. I am a big fan of his work. I am simply a fan with some questions. It’s been a while since we have seen a stand-up comedian assume rock star status. Eddie Murphy is the epitome of the rock star comedian. His success and star power had been compared to Kevin Hart’s for quite some time now and rightfully so. They’re both the best standup performers of their times with successful stand-up comedy films and plenty of box office breaking feature films. One of the things that Eddie Murphy has over Kevin Hart aside from Hart’s lack of writing credits on one of his films is poster space. Yes, poster space. For over thirty years Eddie Murphy has had many movies where he’s the only actor on the film poster. There isn’t one Kevin Hart movie where he is the only person on the film poster.   
     Like I said, I’ve been wrestling with this for a while now. It makes no sense. He’s big enough to do it. I don’t understand why it hasn’t be done. Plenty of other black actors and comedians have been the only star on the poster. Chris Rock is the only person on the posters for Head of State, CB4 and Down to Earth. Richard Pryor, though a legend as a standup comedian, isn’t known for having as iconic of a film career but he still had the sole poster space in Blue Collar and Which Way is Up? Martin Lawrence is by himself on Blue Streak. Will Smith is by himself on Hitch, Hancock, Seven Pounds, and Concussion. Denzel Washington is by himself in The Book of Eli, John Q., He Got Game, and Flight.

(Some of you might be reading this and thinking “what about Dave Chappelle?” Dave Chappelle doesn’t count. He hasn’t starred in five movies.)

Anyways…

     Some examples with white comedians include Seth Rogen in Knocked Up and Observe and Report; Steve Martin in The Jerk and Sgt. Bilko; Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore, The Waterboy and Click. For goodness sake! Even Rob Schneider has sole poster space in the Deuce Bigalow, The Hot Chick and The Animal.  
Are you seeing my point yet? If Rob Schneider can sell a movie with a poster featuring just him, why can’t Kevin Hart?

     Some of you might think that this is a trivial thing to put a lot of thought into, but I assure you it isn’t. Most comedians don’t have Oscars. For some comedians, having a movie with just themselves on the poster is like a kid having an aced test put on the fridge. It’s something to display, something to be proud of.

     Let’s get back to Eddie Murphy. Please understand that this is from a millennial speaking on something that occurred over twenty years before he was born. But I’ve done enough research and seen enough interviews to know what I’m talking about when I say Beverly Hills Cop was Eddie Murphy’s first breakout film. Prior to that he was in Trading Places, 48 Hours and Best Defense. In all three movies he is sharing poster space. In the first two he plays a sidekick to a white actor and goes through enough racism to cause a nationwide outrage in today’s society. Beverly Hills Cop was when it all changed. Eddie Murphy was no longer playing second fiddle. He was the main event. There isn’t one racial slur uttered throughout the movie. In fact, Eddie’s character, Axel Foley, dances around the notion that a white cop was taking the blackness out of his partner. Since Beverly Hills Cop, Eddie Murphy has been the sole face on a poster in a majority of his movies.

     Eddie owned every second of every scene in Beverly Hills Cop. He made it so that no other actor could ever play the role of Axel Foley. He’s a fast talking Detroit cop with a lot of ambition that often gets him in trouble. Once he’s out of his comfort zone it doesn’t take long for him to kick his feet up. The moment Axel set foot in Beverly Hills he made his presence felt and he did it with style. He was cool and confident and people took whatever he threw at them. Could the movie have been as impactful if Axel was a bumbling idiot? Maybe, but it would definitely have an effect on his career. If Axel Foley were more like Inspector Clouseau it might have taken a bit longer for him to do a film like Boomerang.
     The thing with Kevin Hart is that his comedic style feeds off other people’s reactions. Eddie’s style feeds off of Eddie. To speak in basketball terms Kevin Hart is a playmaker and Eddie is a player who can create his own shot. Kevin Hart is Steve Nash and Eddie Murphy is Allen Iverson. Kevin Hart can be Allen Iverson if he had the right pieces. All he needs is the right role and script and he can be the main event for the rest of his career. All it takes is one knockout performance. It doesn’t even matter if there are some flops afterwards, the name still holds weight. Once again, look at Eddie Murphy’s career. He has plenty of flops and he’s still the main event in his other films. Even when he isn’t in the spotlight he can steal the show. Does anybody remember his Oscar nod for Dreamgirls? These are things that Kevin Hart can do right now if he wasn’t always the sidekick or the wise cracking friend.
     Once an answer is given to when Kevin Hart will really star in a movie I can get into some more burning questions. I’m waiting to see who the next black Box Office Buster is going to be. Chadwick Boseman? Michael B. Jordan? Or maybe it will be an actress. One with beauty, class, and no nude scenes. That’d be nice. 
     Who’s going to be like Will Smith and own the theaters every 4th of July Weekend? Who is the next generation of black entertainers going to grow up looking up to?
If there were a sequel or remake of Harlem Nights right now who would make up the Big Three? Who best represents of the three generations of black comedians? If I had to say right now it’d be Kevin Hart in Eddie Murphy’s role, Chris Rock in Richard Pryor’s role and Eddie Murphy in Redd Foxx’s role.

     He is currently 36. It’s also worth mentioning that Eddie Murphy made a name for himself during a time when it was tough for black people to get good roles in films. To further put things in perspective Eddie Murphy was 23 years old when Beverly Hills Cop was released and that was his fourth feature film appearance. Kevin Hart was 24 when Soul Plane came out and that was his fifth film appearance. He is currently 36 years old.