Movie Review: Tiffany Haddish Aces "Night School" (and Kevin Hart Gets Partial Credit)

The director of Girls Trip reteams with scene-stealing supernova Tiffany Haddish in Night School. (Kevin Hart is also there.)

Night School, following in the footsteps of Game Night, Rough Night and director Malcolm D. Lee’s 2017 hit Girls Trip, relies on its stars to make its generic title sound promising.

You see, it’s not just a movie about 'Night School'; it’s a movie about 'Night School' featuring arena-filling stand-up Kevin Hart and burgeoning comedy megastar Tiffany Haddish. Need more? The premise-conveying poster reveals Hart is the locker-stuffing-sized student and Haddish is his hard-ass teacher. This thing writes itself! Except, maybe not, because Night School apparently required six screenwriters, and it shows.

Given the extreme talents—and real-life rapport—of its two leads, Night School should feel unforced. Instead, it works hard for 111 minutes, blending gross-out set pieces with cloying sentimentality, uneasily, to earn itself a (just) passing grade. A for effort?

Hart plays Teddy Walker, a high school dropout keeping his lack of education a secret from his fiancée Lisa (Megalyn Echikunwoke). After losing his plum gig as a BBQ salesman (in the worst CGI explosion I have ever seen), he signs up for after-hours classes at his old school, so he can get his diploma, score a better job and not lose Lisa. Of course, the class is filled with weirdos (played by Rob Riggle, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Romany Malco, Al Madrigal, Anne Winters and actual Fat Joe). The principal (Taran Killam) is his old nemesis. And his teacher, Carrie (Haddish), acts and behaves in the manner of comedian Tiffany Haddish, which means she doesn’t take s*** and occasionally nae naes.

That’s the plot. Why Lee and his many screenwriters (who, again, are so numerous, they can't even carpool) couldn’t keep this to a tight 90 minutes, I’ll never understand. Thankfully, they have a stacked bench, with Killam, Riggle, Malco, Rajskub and Madrigal bringing plenty of oddball flavour to their broadly drawn characters, filling the time pleasantly. Lee's expertise is in ensemble flicks (Barbershop: The Next Cut remains his crowning achievement) and here, everyone gets a good run on the field.

Success, however, rests on Hart and Haddish. Hart’s shtick may have worn out its welcome on some viewers—fun fact: there is no distinguishing any of his film performances—and the rest may be grossed out by the subtext of a plotline in which Hart’s "character" confesses to "cheating" (on "a test") and later attempts to justify his lying ways. Buuut there are indeed moments where he riffs—either about his unfortunate new workplace 'Christian Chicken', or his myriad learning disabilities—and the dude is quite simply humming. You’re reminded how he became a star in the first place.

Still, he's blown off the stage by Haddish, who absolutely has not worn out her welcome, and, despite what I said above, indeed brings a different energy here than she did as the dynamo Dina in Girls Trip. In some ways, she plays the straight woman to the manic Hart, which could have been a fatal miscalculation by Lee. Instead, it only proves she’s compelling in almost any scenario, and her charisma is unwavering.

When the flick eventually ends, it’s not Teddy whose future you’re invested in; it’s Carrie’s. Still, I’m not entirely convinced by her strategies (when she learns of Teddy’s dyslexia and dyscalculia, she decides to teach him in an MMA hexagon, to help him focus). That said, I would never impugn the decisions made by Ms. Haddish, on screen or in the classroom. She’s that reliable.

3/5

In cinemas now. Rated M for crude sexual humour and coarse language.

Header Image: Universal Pictures