Get Hard appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The image satisfied.
Sharpness seemed fine most of the time. The occasional soft shot materialized, but nothing too severe occurred, as the majority of the movie looked accurate. No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and edge haloes failed to appear. I also didn’t see any specks, marks or other print flaws.
Colors looked positive. The image took on an amber/orange tone much of the time, and some teal appeared as well. The hues seemed fine within those parameters. Blacks appeared reasonably dark and tight, while shadows showed clear delineation. All of this was good enough for a “B+”.
I also thought the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Get Hard worked well. Of course, I didn’t expect a dazzling soundfield from this sort of comedy, and I got mostly what I anticipated.
In terms of effects, general ambience ruled the day. However, occasional action elements opened up the mix in a satisfying manner. Enough of the material focused on characters/comedy that we didn’t get a ton of involving material, but the track managed to provide a reasonably engaging sense of place/location.
Audio quality appeared fine. Dialogue was consistently warm and natural, though I noticed a little edginess at times. Effects were a minor component of the mix, and they seemed appropriately subdued and accurate; there wasn’t much to hear, but the various elements were clean and distinct. The music came across as acceptably distinctive. This was a somewhat better than average “comedy mix” and became a nice reproduction of the material.
The Blu-ray provides both the film’s theatrical version (1:40:18) and an unrated cut (1:46:43). By my count, the longer edition includes 13 altered scenes, almost all of which make small changes/additions to existing sequences. These tend to be funny, but I don’t think they create a more effective movie; they’re fun but insubstantial.
The unrated cut also gives us one totally new segment. At the 45:07 mark, we see James’ attempt to escape from his “home prison”. The scene goes for about 1:40 and can be amusing, but a later sequence that simulates a riot seems awfully similar. The movie can handle one of these but not both.
Next we find nine featurettes. The disc presents “Just Put Your Lips Together and Blow” (3:41), “The Kevin Hart Workout” (3:18), “Face Off with Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart” (5:28), “Ferrell Fighting” (3:06), “A Date with John Mayer” (2:00), “Twerking 101” (1:15), “Will Ferrell, Gangsta” (1:45), “Inmates: Out of Control” (6:18) and “Bikers, Babes and Big Bangs” (3:15). Across these, we hear from director Etan Cohen, stunt coordinator Steven Ritzi, executive producer Chris Henchy, stunt woman Taryn Terrell, and actors Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, Nito Larioza, Craig T. Nelson, Tip “TI” Harris, Dominique Perry and John Mayer.
The featurettes look at stunts and action as well as cast and performances and some general production notes. The clips tend toward shots from the set more than anything else, and that allows them to be interesting. They also throw in a bunch of alternate lines, a fact I appreciate.
Eight Deleted Scenes occupy a total of 24 minutes, 47 seconds. These consist of extended versions of existing scenes, so don’t expect anything truly new here.
This doesn’t seem like a bad thing, though, as these extended sequences tend to amuse. Some are better than others, of course, but all offer humor. I especially like the absurdly long “keistering” segment.
More cut tidbits show up in Line-O-Ramas. We get four of these: “Swear-O-Rama” (1:44), “Pickup-O-Rama” (4:14), “Shiv-O-Rama” (2:01” and “Cry A River-O-Rama” (1:31). Like prior “Line-O-Ramas”, these offer multiple alternate jokes for bits that show up in the final flick. They’re consistently entertaining.
Finally, we locate a Gag Reel. It goes for three minutes, five seconds and shows the standard goofs and giggles. A few alternate lines appear, though, so that makes it a bit better than average.
The disc opens with ads for Entourage and San Andreas. No trailer for Get Hard shows up here.
A second disc provides a DVD copy of Get Hard. It includes the gag reel but lacks the other extras. It also presents only the theatrical version of the film.
With Kevin Hart and Will Ferrell as its leads, Get Hard boasts enough talent to make it enjoyable. Neither manages to dazzle, but they show nice chemistry and turn this into an amusing little effort. The Blu-ray presents positive picture and audio as well as a nice roster of supplements that feature lots of cut/alternate footage. Largely due to its cast, Get Hard packs good laughs.
