Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain

A concert film from Kevin Hart's Let Me Explain tour, recorded at Madison Square Garden in New York. On stage Hart works through his own fame, the rumours about him, his divorce and his father. Leslie Small and Tim Story direct. There is a fictional frame around it: a short passage before the show in which his friends talk about him, and a scene on a plane. That material is generally reckoned the film's weakest part. The real work starts on stage. The numbers explain where Hart stood at that moment. It cost roughly 2.5 million dollars and took over 30 million worldwide. For a stand up concert film that ratio is extremely high, and it was work like this that opened his film career. His technique is distinctive: the whole body is used, characters are acted out, and the delivery is in constant motion. He is not telling a joke, he is performing a story. Who it is for: viewers who like stand up and want Hart at the point of his rise. Who it is not for: the show is built heavily on his own celebrity. If you do not know who he is, a lot of it will not land.