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.
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