Skip to content
The Will Ferrell Challenge is the latest subject from film critic Mark Kermode as part of his Kermode Uncut vlogs, and centres around the fact that people told him online that they assumed he would hate the new Will Ferrell movie, Get Hard, where he plays millionaire James King, who is nailed for fraud and bound for San Quentin, and then turns to Darnell Lewis (Kevin Hart) to prep him to go behind bars.
In a film that tries to make light of racism and homosexual rape, yes, he didn’t like it and while I haven’t seen it yet myself, I would be staggered if anyone enjoyed it, and you can hear Mark’s thoughts in full on both his Radio 5 Live show with Simon Mayo and also the BBC News Film Review alongside Gavin Esler, the latter of which is on iPlayer for almost a full month to come.
Also, big thanks to both Mark and Gavin for retweeting my tweet on Friday, in reaction to their exchange on the Film Review:
Get Hard: @gavinesler: "Well, apart from the racism & homophobia, has it got anything going for it(?)"@kermodemovie: "No."
PMSL! @bbcnews— Freejack Fan (100K+ Youtube views per month!) (@FreejackFan) March 27, 2015
Back to The Will Ferrell Challenge, and it is a challenge to suggest an actor, director or other film-related individual who has only ever made a body of work which you hate in its entireity. Mark Kermode can’t, not even for the work of Michael Bay or Danny Dyer.
Myself, while I can’t think of one re: film, I have a music-related suggestion: Heather Small from the popular ’90s band M People. I can’t stand any of their singles, particularly big hits like One Night In Heaven, Moving On Up, their godawful covers of Itchycoo Park and 1993’s Don’t Look Any Further, the latter of which was originally sung in 1984 by The Temptations’ Dennis Edwards and was far better covered in 1988 by The Kane Gang.
Oh, and I absolutely HATE Ms Small’s solo single, Proud.
So, there is my reply to the challenge. Can you think of someone whose work you also can’t stand in its entireity?
Check out the Kermode Uncut vlog below and click on the Get Hard poster for the full-sized image:
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.