Bryan Cranston got the jump on would-be critics of his latest film role. The actor stars in “The Upside,” the Hollywood remake of the hit French film “The Intouchables,” a 2011 buddy comedy which follows the unlikely friendship between a wealthy quadriplegic white man (Cranston) and his black ex-con home health aide (Kevin Hart). Both films are inspired by the the real life friendship between French businessman Philippe Pozzo Di Borgo and his French-Algerian caretaker, Abdel Sellou. Both films cast an able-bodied actor in the role of Philippe.

“Well, that’s another business decision,” Cranston told IndieWire about the choice. “Wasn’t even my decision, but maybe that points out to bring more focus on disadvantaged or disabled actors, to be put in positions to have more opportunities and more diversity.”

Indie film actor Adam Pearson, who played opposite Scarlett Johansson in the 2013 film “Under the Skin,” and more recently as a lead in Aaron Schumburg’s “Chained for Life,” criticized Cranston’s casting. “Yet even more ‘cripping up’ in Hollywood, this time by, regrettably, one of my favourite actors [Bryan Cranston],” the actor tweeted recently. “Referring to it as a ‘business decision’ was a poor choice of words.”

Much like arguments put forth by those who wish to see the end of cisgender actors playing transgender roles, Pearson pointed out the disproportionate number of awards won by abled actors in disabled roles compared to any awards won by actors with disabilities.

“In the 90 year history of the Oscars, 16% have been awarded for movies / performances based upon a portrayal off disability and the disabled experience, with 20+ abled bodied actors winning awards,” wrote Pearson. “In the same period however only 2 disabled actors have been awarded the same accolade, most recently was [Marlee Matlin] (back in 1987).” (Matlin won Best Actress for “Children of a Lesser God.”)

Cranston pointed to the movie’s discussion of white privilege and income disparity as one reason why he thought this story was worth telling. “There’s all those conversations to be had, and I think they’re all legitimate. I hope that doesn’t take away from the story. The story is of these two men who, strangely, find a bond with each other that they had no idea was present or was coming,” he said.

“My character is basically living in the past, when he was whole, when he could walk and eat and talk and make love to his wife…and now that was taken away, and he doesn’t see a future for himself,” Cranston said. “Kevin [Hart]’s character comes in, and he is a young, black man in America, coming out of incarceration. He doesn’t have a future either. He doesn’t know if he’ll be alive tomorrow, so he’s gotta live for the present and get it now. You have a man who lives in the past, a man who lives in the present, and neither think they have a future.”

Whether that message is important enough to override concerns about representation of actors with disability, audiences will have to decide. With a 43% on Rotten Tomatoes, critics don’t seem to think so. To those who cry (quite obnoxiously), “It’s called acting!”, Pearson had this to say: “I think the idea that ‘anyone can play anything’ or that if a disabled person plays a disabled character the level of acting is somehow less need to be discussed and critically examined.”

Kevin Hart is definitely not hosting the 2019 Academy Awards, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have jokes already planned for his opening monologue. During an interview with SiriusXM in promotion of his new film “The Upside,” Hart decided to reveal two segments he was planning to incorporate into his hosting gig.

“You have to have people that have a high level of not giving a fuck to make the night good,” Hart said. “The whole purpose of Kevin Hart hosting the Oscars was to take away the tension. I have bits that were fucking phenomenal.”

Hart said one topic he was going to riff on was memes and how “you don’t want to be a meme.” As the comedian explained, “Don’t fucking sit in here and put yourself in a position where you’re going to become a meme. I was going to pull up the pictures in the past of people that became memes and simply say, ‘This is why you need to relax.’ Remember the picture of Denzel [Washington] where he’s got the teeth out? He’s one of the best actors to ever do it and this meme almost took him out. I was going to say what the meme did and what damage it can do. I had fucking gold. I was going to come out swinging, I promise you.”

Hart was also planning to praise all the directors and producers in the room and ask them to raise their hands. And the punchline? “I was going to open up the door and have my friends come in and just start pitching for 20 seconds,” Hart said.

Hart was originally announced as Oscars host in December, but quickly stepped down after facing backlash over past comments about the LGBTQ community. Last week, Ellen DeGeneres had Hart on her show to encourage the comedian to reconsider. She even went so far as to share she had spoken to the Academy and heard it wanted him back. On “Good Morning America” on January 9, Hart confirmed he would not be hosting, saying he did not want the controversy to distract from the night at large.

“I’m over it,” Hart said multiple times when asked by “GMA” host Michael Strahan about the situation. “There’s no more conversation about it. I’m over that, I’m over the moment. I’m not giving no more explanation of who I am. I’m just done.”

The 2019 Academy Awards take place Sunday, February 24. Watch Hart discuss his scrapped Oscars monologue in the video below.

The opening weekend of “The Upside,” the Kevin Hart-Bryan Cranston remake of the worldwide French hit “Intouchables,” ended the three-week reign of “Aquaman.” It made just over of $20 million — besting estimates — and comes after a few weeks of controversy for Hart that suggested the long-delayed film might take a hit.

“The Upside”

The odd-couple pairing of a wealthy and paraplegic New Yorker and the ex-con hired to care for him is a curious inverse of “Green Book.” (Did the success of “Intouchables,” particularly its huge international appeal, help get Peter Farrelly’s film a green light?)

Initially a Weinstein film, it premiered to mixed critical response at Toronto 2017, with plans for an early 2018 opening upended by the company’s demise. Its pickup by STX, a totally capable distributor with access to top theaters, still suggested to some a limit to its, shall we say, upside. The company has had several successes, but only one opening over $20 million (“Bad Moms” in 2016, around $24 million). And Hart’s promo tours for the film got more attention for his speaking out on past comedy routines and how their homophobic content cost him his Oscar gig as much as this film.

Here’s the mixed results: It is STX’s first #1 film, it did exceed expectations (in part because STX is more targeted and thrifty with its marketing), it opened on what is usually a weak weekend. The counterargument is that it is on the low side for Hart comedies open. The most recent, “Night School,” opened at $24 million. That followed a string of three — “Get Hard,” “Ride Along 2,” and “Central Intelligence” — that opened at $35 million or more.

However, the film appears to have underperformed among African-American audiences, constituting about 25 percent of the ticket buyers. (Studios vary in reporting racial breakdowns, but some of his past hits have been 50 percent African-American). The lack of a co-star of equal awareness (Cranston’s core appeal lies with older white adults) and the domestic success of its original coming from mostly specialized audiences both could be a factor. Its ‘A’ Cinemascore could suggest some life ahead.

“A Dog’s Way Home”

Sony Pictures Entertainment

The heart-tugging family release “A Dog’s Way Home” came in at the low end among similar canine-oriented stories. Both it and “The Upside” opened a week before the upcoming holiday weekend, when they might have been expected to be released. This comes in part because the later MLK Day allows for an earlier weekend to launch a film and the possibility of advance word of mouth. It also got both films out of the way of the expected dominance of “Glass” next week. Sony managed to have three of the top five films, including last week’s opener “Escape Room” and the ongoing “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” That speaks to the sudden falloff in intensity of moviegoing and several holiday films already passing their expiration dates.

A third opener sci-fi thriller “Replicas,” starring Keanu Reeves, manage only $2.5 million in 2,329 theaters. People are increasingly savvy in their abilities to sniff out nonstarter releases.

“Aquaman”

Warner Bros.

“Aquaman” may have lost the #1 spot, but it also passed the $1 billion mark worldwide. Over 70 percent of that comes from overseas (and Japan hasn’t even opened yet). It is now the biggest domestic performer among films released in the second half of 2018 (edging out “The Grinch”), and should end up #5 overall by the time it finishes (somewhere over $325 million).

Last weekend’s sole opener “Escape Room” dropped a normal 51 percent for a routine horror entry. With a $9 million budget and the world still to play, it is a good result for Sony. The 31 percent drop for their “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” is even happier. It is nearly $150 million here, the same overseas, with more to come.

“Mary Poppins Returns” took a worrisome 54 percent drop. Its domestic and international returns are similarly about evenly divided and around $300 million. But for a $130 million-budgeted film, and one they hope to continue as a franchise, it still is weaker than they hoped.

“Bumblebee” dropped nearly as much, and cost as much. But because of its much bigger foreign appeal, it’s in better shape. In really great shape is Clint Eastwood’s “The Mule,” which has increased in theater count each of its five weeks, to the point where it had the second biggest count this weekend. It is now over $90 million, with virtually no foreign yet.

“Bohemian Rhapsody”

20th Century Fox

Overall, however, this weekend wasn’t impressive: Grosses fell a third — about $40 million — from the same date last year. However, last year brought MLK Day six days earlier. So the cumulative result of next week and the expected strong opening of “Glass” will tell us far more than about 2019 than results so far, which are down over 11 percent.

A host of Golden Globe standouts showed in many theaters this weekend. “Vice” lost a third of its theaters, but held on to tenth place. How much a boost its Oscar nomination haul will bring remains to be seen.

But the more interesting story is how “Bohemian Rhapsody,” way late in its release, managed to go up 35 percent, placing just behind “Vice.” The film refuses to die, and with its home availability weeks away looks a good bet to surpass even “A Star Is Born” (it is now only $5 million behind.)

The Top Ten

1. The Upside (STX) NEW – Cinemascore: A; Metacritic: 44; est. budget: $37 million

$20,400,000 in 3,080 theaters; PTA (per theater average): $6,623; Cumulative: $20,400,000

2. Aquaman (Warner Bros.) Week 4 – Last weekend #1

$17,625,000 (-44%) in 3,863 theaters (-321); PTA: $4,469; Cumulative: $287,862,000

3. A Dog’s Way Home (Sony) NEW – Cinemascore: A-; Metacritic: 50; est. budget: $18 million

$11,300,000 in 3,090 theaters; PTA: $3,657; Cumulative: $11,300,000

4. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Sony) Week 5 – Last weekend #5

$9,000,000 (-31%) in 3,029 theaters (-390); PTA: $2,971; Cumulative: $147,775,000

5. Escape Room (Sony) Week 2 – Last weekend #2

$8,900,000 (-51%) in 2,717 theaters (no change); PTA: $3,276; Cumulative: $32,433,000

6. Mary Poppins Returns (Disney) Week 4 – Last weekend #3

$7,215,000 (-54%) in 3,253 theaters (-837); PTA: $2,218; Cumulative: $150,657,000

7. Bumblebee (Paramount) Week 4 – Last weekend #4

$6,775,000 (-49%) in 3,303 theaters (-294); PTA: $2,051; Cumulative: $108,470,000

8. On the Basis of Sex (Fox) Week 3 – Last weekend #

$6,227,000 (+287%) in 1,923 theaters (+1,811); PTA: $3,238; Cumulative: $10,558,000

9. The Mule (Warner Bros.) Week 5 – Last weekend #6

$5,545,000 (-39%) in 3,329 theaters (+117); PTA: $1,666; Cumulative: $90,578,000

10. Vice (Annapurna) Week 3 – Last weekend #7

$3,279,000 (-43%) in 1,724 theaters (-810); PTA: $1,902; Cumulative: $35,936,000

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Kevin Hart, Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, and Jack Black are thrown into another crazy adventure in the first trailer for Sony Pictures’ “Jumanji: The Next Level.” The film is the sequel to 2017’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” a surprise Christmas smash hit that went on to earn $404 million in the U.S. and a huge $964 million worldwide. The film set a domestic record for Sony and passed “Spider-Man” to become the studio’s highest-grossing U.S. release (unadjusted for inflation), which means the pressure is on for “The Next Level” to deliver the box office goods this upcoming holiday season.

In “The Next Level,” Hart, Johnson, Gillan, and Black return as their video game avatars while Ser’Darius Blain, Alex Wolff, Morgan Turner, and Madison Iseman once again play their original real-world counterparts. Nick Jonas and Colin Hanks are back as well, while new additions to the “Jumanji” franchise include Awkwafina, Danny DeVito, and Danny Glover. The twist this time around is that DeVito and Glover get pulled into Johnson and Hart’s avatars, giving the latter two the chance to show off some new comedy skills.

Re-joining the actors is co-writer and director Jake Kasdan who, before the family adventure film, was best known for helming R-rated comedies such as “Bad Teacher” and “Sex Tape.” “Welcome to the Jungle” marked the third entry in the “Jumanji” film franchise after the 1995 Robin Williams classic “Jumanji” and the 2005 spinoff/sequel “Zathura: A Space Adventure.”

“The Next Level” is set to give Johnson another 2019 blockbuster after this summer’s “Fast and Furious” spinoff movie “Hobbs and Shaw.” Gillan has already been part of a $2 billion blockbuster thanks to her role as Nebula in “Avengers: Endgame.” While Hart’s indie drama “The Upside” had a strong box office run at the start of 2019, “The Next Level” will mark his first major live-action studio role in over a year. He’s currently in theaters as the voice of Snowball in “The Secret Life of Pets 2.”

Sony Pictures will release “Jumanji: The Next Level” in theaters nationwide December 13. Watch the first official trailer in the video below.

Superstar Kevin Hart is attached to produce and star in STXfilms’ “high concept comic twist” on the superhero movie, titled “Night Wolf,” which was acquired as a pitch from “Detective Pikachu” screenwriters Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit. The film will tell the story of a man (Hart) who meets his future father-in-law for the first time, in a “Meet the Parents”-esque encounter, only to find out he is secretly the superhero known as the Night Wolf.

The project is the third that Hart is developing with STXfilms, a division of Robert Simonds’ STX Entertainment. Earlier this year, STX announced a partnership with Hart’s HartBeat Productions to develop two new comedies — “Black Friday” and an untitled romcom — which Hart would star in.

The HartBeat team will oversee production of all three projects with STXfilms’ SVP of Production Drew Simon.

“After we acquired Night Wolf, we submitted it to Kevin Hart and the Team at HartBeat hoping they would love it as much as we did,” said Chairman of STXfilms Adam Fogelson. “It is a big, broad comedy and the idea is great fun and perfectly matched with Kevin’s comedic talent. We are thrilled to be working on what will now be our fourth film together.”

“I am excited to be working with our friends at STX again,” Hart said. “They brought us a great project with ‘Night Wolf.’ I instantly fell in love with this pitch about an everyday guy who is meeting his in-laws for the first time and unwittingly discovers his dad-to-be is secretly a superhero.”

Hart most recently starred in dramedy “The Upside,” and provided his voice for “The Secret Life of Pets 2,” which marked his sixth and seventh $100+ million grossing movies respectively. He will next star in “Jumanji: The Next Level” which is out in December.

Widely regarded as first and foremost a comedian, the aspirational Hart is also a businessman. Or maybe more appropriately, to borrow from fellow mogul Jay-Z on “Diamonds from Sierra Leone,” Kevin Hart is not a businessman; he’s a business, man! Unseating Jerry Seinfeld in 2016, Hart is the world’s most successful comedian with an annual income at $87.5 million. Hart is also currently one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood, boasting a career that has grossed over $4 billion in worldwide box office.

STXfilms’ upcoming slate includes “Hustlers” (September 13), “Countdown” (October 25), “21 Bridges” (November 22), “Playmobil” (December 6), “Brahms: The Boy II” (December 6), “My Spy” (January 10), and “The Gentlemen” (January 24) among others.

Kevin Hart experienced cancel culture firsthand when controversial jokes from his past resurfaced ahead of his gig hosting the 91st Academy Awards. The comedian exited the Oscars in the wake of the media blitz that surrounded his past jokes, but it took a while for Hart to issue a straightforward apology for his “insensitive words.” Now in a new interview with The Sunday Times ahead of the Netflix debut of his new film, “Fatherhood,” Hart railed against cancel culture and said it has led to a loss of freedom in comedy because many comics feel censored by “thinking that things you say will come back and bite you on the ass.”

“If people want to pull up stuff, go back to the same tweets of old, go ahead. There is nothing I can do,” Hart told The Sunday Times. “You’re looking at a younger version of myself. A comedian trying to be funny and, at that attempt, failing. Apologies were made…I understand now how it comes off. I look back and cringe. So it’s growth. It’s about growth.”

Hart continued, “I personally don’t give a shit about [cancel culture]…If somebody has done something truly damaging then, absolutely, a consequence should be attached. But when you’re talking, ‘Someone said! They need to be taken [down]!’ Shut the fuck up! What are you talking about?…When did we get to a point where life was supposed to be perfect? Where people were supposed to operate perfectly all the time? I don’t understand. I don’t expect perfection from my kids. I don’t expect it from my wife, friends, employees. Because, last I checked, the only way you grow up is from fucking up. I don’t know a kid who hasn’t fucked up or done some dumb shit.”

Speaking on his own cancellation, Hart said he is “never bothered” whenever his controversial material resurfaces in a present-day context and leads to people trying to cancel him for it. “If you allow it to have an effect on you, it will. Personally? That’s not how I operate,” the comedian said. “I understand people are human. Everyone can change.”

Hart added, “It’s like jail. People get locked up so they can be taught a lesson. When they get out, they are supposed to be better. But if they come out and people go, ‘I’m not giving you a job because you were in jail’ — then what the fuck did I go to jail for? That was my punishment — how do you not give those people a shot? They’re saying that all life should be over because of a mistake? Your life should end and there should be no opportunity to change? What are you talking about? And who are you to make that decision?”

“Fatherhood” launches June 18 on Netflix. Head over to The Sunday Times’ website to read Hart’s latest interview in its entirety.

The video above was produced by IndieWire’s Creative Producer Leonardo Adrian Garcia.

The 2020 Summer Olympics, as held in Tokyo in 2021, have been something of a mess. The (ongoing) global health crisis already delayed the Games for a year and additionally forced restrictions that meant athletes would be competing in empty arenas and stadiums. But beyond that, NBC’s coverage of the Tokyo Olympics has been scattershot, with a dependence upon prefab narratives and storytelling devices that, during this unpredictable time, are unable to capture the fluid excitement of competition.

Which doesn’t even begin to address the underwhelming incorporation of the conglomerate’s streaming service Peacock into its Olympic push.

And yet squirreled away on Peacock is the hidden gem of the Tokyo Olympics, the sole saving grace of a slate of broadcasting bummers: “Olympic Highlights with Kevin Hart and Snoop Dogg.”

The buzz about the series — at least within IndieWire’s virtual headquarters — began with a tweet.

If you love watching the Olympics as much as I do, your experience is not complete without the Snoop/Kevin Hart highlight show. It’s not only hilarious, they’re GREAT interviewers. Why isn’t Peacock promoting this more?

— Bitchuation (@Bitchuation) August 1, 2021

From there it was just a matter of checking out the generically titled, half-hour show. And as happens all the time, in every single situation, Twitter was right on the money! Whether you’re a fan of Kevin Hart or not, his pairing with the always effortlessly cool Snoop Dogg is low-key genius, with Hart’s high-strung energy and Snoop’s laid-back vibe forming the perfect hybrid strain of sports entertainment.

Basically, the show is as good as not advertised and proof positive that NBC has lost its grasp on what people want from the Olympics.

Take the title of the series for starters: “Olympic Highlights with Kevin Hart and Snoop Dogg.” Well, that’s definitely the exact phrase someone scribbled on the whiteboard during the Olympics coverage pitch meeting and was apparently never revisited. If you were wondering, a Google search for the phrase “olympic highlights” yields a mere 518 million results so keyword optimization wasn’t exactly a priority.

Not to mention the fact that they don’t even set off the high in highlights, which is bizarre because Snoop is a legendary proponent of marijuana — so much so that he even has his own brand of cannabis (Leafs by Snoop.) And… nothing? No cheeky humor about getting baked and watching elite feats of athleticism? It’s certainly not a content issue, as both Hart and Snoop swear freely during episodes, often to hilarious effect.

Kevin Hart and Snoop Dogg in “Olympic Highlights with Kevin Hart and Snoop Dogg.”

Peacock

But more than wordplay, the most offensive thing about the lack of promotion for “Olympic Highlights” is that it’s really good. While Hart is a solid comedic presence, it’s Snoop that’s the real star of his show. He’s no stranger to hosting, what with his VH1 variety show with Martha Stewart, “Martha and Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party,” and Snoop acquits himself well to the anchor chair, quick with a quip and more than ready to exhibit real enthusiasm over the featured clips from the Olympics. The man is smooth as hell.

Also key: It’s not just “SportsCenter” style banter that the pair are bringing to the table. On the episode from August 4, they spoke with women’s shot put silver medalist Raven Saunders, who sparked controversy by lifting her arms above her head in an X during the medal ceremony, which according to Saunders represented “the intersection of where all people who are oppressed meet.”

Saunders has been outspoken about her battles with mental illness, as well as struggling to find her place in the world as an openly queer Black woman competing on the world stage. Snoop’s admiration of both Saunders’ accomplishments and her earnestness was clear, and it was really special to see honest engagement about issues of intersectionality be discussed on such a prominent platform.

NBC and Peacock have something really special in “Olympic Highlights with Kevin Hart and Snoop Dogg.” It’s just too bad they don’t realize it.

For more on the shortcomings of this year’s Olympics coverage check out this piece from IndieWire’s Steve Greene.

And for more about an underperforming platform in Peacock, tune in to this week’s episode of IndieWire’s TV podcast “Millions of Screens” with Deputy TV Editor Ben Travers, Creative Producer Leo Garcia, and TV Awards Editor Libby Hill, plus even more raving about the unexpected pleasures in “Olympic Highlights.” Then stay tuned as the gang dissects Mike White’s HBO series “The White Lotus” on which the trio has a variety of opinions.

“Millions of Screens” is available on Apple Podcasts, Breaker, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher. You can subscribe here or via RSS. Share your feedback with the crew on Twitter or sound off in the comments. Review the show on iTunes and be sure to let us know if you’d like to hear the gang address specific issues in upcoming editions of “Millions of Screens.” Check out the rest of IndieWire’s podcasts on iTunes right here.

Kevin Hart is taking the leap into dramatic series television with the Netflix limited series “True Story.” And if even a quarter of the series is, in fact, true then it looks to be a wild ride. The first trailer for the seven-episode limited series just dropped and things take a bad turn fast.

Based on the trailer, Hart is playing a character seemingly inspired by himself, an ultra-successful comedian named The Kid. Life appears to be good, but when Kid’s older brother (Wesley Snipes) shows back up in his life, it threatens to destroy not just the Kid’s career but could see more violent things unfold. Right now there’s little else to go off of, including what exactly is going to land the Kid in hot water, but there’s a serious desire to make this a heavy drama.

“True Story” is executive produced by “Narcos” and “Narcos: Mexico” showrunner Eric Newman, a fact that is emphasized in the trailer itself. There certainly is a “Narcos” vibe here, especially with quick shots of strippers, people getting stomped on, and more. Caroline Currier from Grand Electric and Mike Stein and Tiffany Brown from Hartbeat Productions all serve as co-producers. Stephen Williams will direct and executive produce the first three episodes while Hanelle Culpepper will direct the final four episodes.

The combination of Hart and Netflix has been a winning one of the last year with the streamer releasing Hart’s documentary special, “Kevin Hart: Don’t F**k This Up” in 2019 and releasing his feature film “Fatherhood” earlier this year.

Hart himself was at the center of a scandal earlier in the year after he railed against cancel culture and said it has led to a loss of freedom in comedy in an interview for The Sunday Times. He said the loss of freedom was because many comics feel censored by “thinking that things you say will come back and bite you on the ass.”

Speaking on his own cancellation, Hart said he is “never bothered” whenever his controversial material resurfaces in a present-day context and leads to people trying to cancel him for it. “If you allow it to have an effect on you, it will. Personally? That’s not how I operate,” the comedian said. “I understand people are human. Everyone can change.”

Watch the full trailer below.

“True Story” streams on Netflix November 24.

Netflix’s limited series “True Story” is a departure for star Kevin Hart in his television drama debut, as he wrestles with material that’s darker than his usual schtick. It’s a commendable risk on his part that doesn’t fully exploit its potential to be the thoroughly engrossing episodic with a profound message that it probably thinks it is. While Hart and co-star Wesley Snipes, in their first onscreen matchup, make for a high-octane duo, the script betrays that effort with uninspired writing from series creator, writer, and showrunner Eric Newman (“Narcos: Mexico”) that doesn’t quite make darkness its ally, and leans too much on plot conveniences and a predictability that mutes suspense.

The series opens with Hart as lead character Kid, seated, breaking the fourth wall, as he says, with dramatic urgency: “People think they know me because I make them laugh, or because they’ve been to a show. But they don’t know what I did to get here or what it takes to stay here. When a person’s back is against the wall, and they gotta do whatever they can to keep from losing what they got, that’s when you get to see who a person is. Or what they’re capable of.”

This apologia cuts to a title card that branches to form a maze with a convoluted layout, which intimates what you can expect from “True Story’s” seven roughly 40-minute episodes.

As Kid, Hart is once again playing a version of himself — a wealthy superstar comedian and actor, who successfully co-parents with an ex. On the verge of a billion dollar box office grosser in a superhero film titled “Anti-verse” (which he co-stars in with Chris Hemsworth), Kid, a recovering alcoholic, is enjoying peak success, as he embarks on a nationwide comedy tour, with a stop in his hometown of Philadelphia. After a night of partying during which his sobriety is tested, Kid becomes the center of an extortion racket that leaves several dead bodies in its wake, and a beleaguered Kid, as his introductory monologue gives away, does what he believes he must in order to hold onto what he has.

Along for the ride is Kid’s minimal entourage, starting with his older brother, Carlton (Wesley Snipes), his manager Todd (Paul Adelstein), bodyguard Herschel (William Catlett), and chief writer Billie (Tawny Newsome). On the surface, they all appear to prioritize Kid’s interests and wellbeing, until a sequence of events brings the ethical compasses of several characters into question.

Carlton is the underachieving older brother mooching off Kid’s fame, whose motivations aren’t initially clear, but there are suggestions from the outset (his furtive glances at Kid, his ringing cellphone that he won’t answer, and other suspicious behavior) that he’s up to something possibly nefarious. And while Todd looks out for his client, he’s aggressive in pushing Kid to sign up for a sequel to “Anti-Verse” despite Kid’s initial ambivalence — a move that also serves Todd’s self-interest. And Herschel is over-protective of Kid, almost like the brother Kid would’ve wanted, but he’s secretly sleeping with Billie, and makes a questionable demand of Kid in the finale.

Key supporting roles include Gene (Theo Rossi), Kid’s possibly emotionally unstable number one fan, whose introduction immediately gives away the much larger role he’ll play in his idol’s life. John Ales and Chris Diamantopoulos play brothers Nikos and Savvas, vengeful Greek gangsters whose violent streak is so graphically depicted that it confuses the series. It’s possible to tell a brooding, uncompromising story without gore.

Completing the gangster trio is their brother Ari (a bearded Billy Zane), a hustler whose latest “job” comes with fatal consequences.

There’s a tacked on story about Billie, Kid’s talented chief writer, who feels underappreciated, and wants to pursue a career of her own as a standup comic, as a young Black woman in a field dominated by men. It’s one worthy string left dangling.

Grounding the series, and what qualifies as its throughline is the mercurial relationship between Kid and Carlton, and there is chemistry between Hart and Snipes, in a Cain and Able-type fable subverting its title. Kid clearly loves his disruptive older brother unconditionally and is protective of him, despite his many screw-ups, which Kid is often called on to fix. On the other hand, Carlton’s love comes with conditions. He mooches off Kid’s fame without shame, and seems to justify it with a jealousy that isn’t entirely fleshed out.

The volatility in their kinship relents from one episode to the next, soon becoming clear that this is a doomed relationship. To borrow from “Zola,” the 2020 dramedy based on a Twitter thread, “True Story” may as well have opened the first episode with: “Y’all wanna hear a story about how me and my older brother fell out? It’s kinda long but full of suspense.”

Carlton is, for all intents and purposes, a sociopath and it becomes easy to despise him long before the series ends, which is likely what the creator Newman needed to ensure for what will be obvious reasons. But it’s a lesson Kid has to learn for himself, despite efforts from his team to distance him from Carlton. To be sure, Kid’s shirt certainly isn’t clean either, even though he doesn’t pay anywhere as steep a price as others do.

“I should’ve done what I was supposed to do; stay fucking sober,” he laments in the latter half of the series. It feels more like an expression of regret than actual sorrow as the central figure in a series of events that leaves many lives destroyed, literally and figuratively. It feels unearned. Consequences steepen with each new complication, further complicating previous complications, as Kid makes one bad decision after another. He’s probably meant to be drawn as an antihero, and that may have succeeded if the character, as written, did not appear so sanctimonious. It also doesn’t help that Kid is a version of Hart (or vice-versa), and their lives and personalities intertwine. Cameos by Hart’s celeb pals Ellen DeGeneres and Chris Hemsworth, as well as real-life references to Don Cheadle and Anthony Mackie, only encourage this. Kid’s (and in some ways, Hart’s) “I’m only human and no one is perfect” retort to scandal doesn’t quite satisfy, especially when other humans end up dead.

There’s a sharper series hiding in “True Story’s” script that assumes its audience is just as sharp, and would relish a puzzle, with a message about humbly facing the consequences of the choices we make; or a take that waxes economic on what unchecked capitalism breeds in a world in which each character is driven almost entirely by greed.

But the desired message conveyed seems to be that celebrity isn’t easy. Or, to quote a Notorious B.I.G. single that’s surprisingly not included as a needle drop in this very on-the-nose series, “Mo Money Mo Problems.”

Grade: C-

Netflix will release all seven episodes of “True Story” on Wednesday, November 24.

The wrong AirBnB can make all the difference — especially when it leads to a deadly case of mistaken identity.

Kevin Hart stars as a bumbling sales consultant who checks into the wrong holiday rental cabin in Netflix’s comedy of errors “The Man from Toronto.” When Hart walks in on a torture chamber, he quickly has to pretend to be the eponymous assassin from Toronto to save his own life. Yet the CIA wants him to stay undercover to help them find the real Man from Toronto, who is none other than Woody Harrelson.

The buddy comedy continues as Harrelson trains Hart to be him, and Hart has to decide whether or not to turn the Man from Toronto in to the feds. “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” director Patrick Hughes helms the Netflix film, streaming June 24.

Kaley Cuoco, Jasmine Mathews, Lela Loren, Pierson Fodé, Jencarlos Canela, and Ellen Barkin also star in the action-comedy. Robbie Fox and Chris Bremner penned the script, with Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, and Steve Tisch producing.

Director Hughes explained that Hart and Harrelson’s comedic chemistry is the crux of the action parody film. “I’m a huge fan of buddy comedies, and I love how, at the end of the day, it’s always like a love story between two people that are polar opposites,” Hughes told Entertainment Weekly. “Kevin Hart’s character is like a wet noodle who needs to find strength to stand up in the world because it’s been walking all over him. On the flip side of that coin, the ‘Man from Toronto’ is someone that needs to get in touch with his emotions a little more instead of just killing everybody. Watching them learn from each other is really fun.”

“The Man from Toronto” also marks Harrelson’s first premiere since starring in 2022 Palme d’Or winner “Triangle of Sadness,” the latest dark comedy by Ruben Östlund. Harrelson is additionally set to team up again with Östlund for upcoming film “Entertainment System Is Down,” as Östlund exclusively confirmed to IndieWire. Harrelson will star in Richard Nixon biopic miniseries “The White House Plumbers” and prison escape show “The Most Dangerous Man in America,” both currently in production.

“The Man from Toronto” premieres June 24 on Netflix.

Check out the trailer below.

“The Man from Toronto,” Patrick Hughes’ new buddy comedy starring Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson, is primed to pour gasoline on the debate by making another argument against Airbnbs as a less-than-viable vacation choice in 2022. But in this movie’s universe, along with chore lists and annoying rules, you could also find yourself mistaken for a world-renowned torture artist and forced to risk your marriage in order to save the world from nuclear destruction.

Teddy (Kevin Hart) doesn’t have a lot going for him. He does marketing for a boxing gym but gets fired when he forgets to put the gym’s address or phone number on his fliers. Attempts to drum up interest for his business idea, “Contact-Free Boxing,” which essentially amounts to boxing without hitting each other, are equally unsuccessful.

And things aren’t going much better at home. His wife Lori (Jasmine Mathews) resents his frequent mistakes, to the point where her co-workers have begun using “Teddy’d” as a verb to mean “screwed up.”

To turn things around, he plans a lavish birthday getaway for Lori, renting a cabin in Onancock, Virginia for a weekend of romance and relaxation. But in classic Teddy fashion, he forgot to fill their printer with toner. So when they approach the actual cabin, he can’t quite read the address that he printed out. He’s able to narrow it down to two houses, so he takes a guess and knocks on the door of the cabin he thinks he rented. He’s wrong.

The occupants of this cabin are waiting for a shadowy figure that everyone calls The Man from Toronto (Woody Harrelson). Employed by a mysterious crime syndicate whose assassins are only known by the city they hail from, The Man from Toronto is the best extractor of information in the world. If you have a hostage who won’t tell you what you need to know, he has a multitude of ways to make them talk.

The Man from Toronto has been hired for a lucrative two-part job that requires him to extract info from one man in Onancock and a second in Washington, DC. If he pulls it off, the payout could bring him life-changing money. And the first man is waiting for him in this cabin.

The man has always operated anonymously, and very few people have ever seen his face. So when Teddy shows up at the wrong address, the current occupants think they’re in the presence of the world’s greatest sadist. They force him to “extract” information from their hostage, which he miraculously does through a combination of begging and coercion. The men are satisfied with his performance and eager to see “The Man from Toronto” finish the job in DC.

But before they can leave, the house is hit by feds, who arrest everyone in the cabin. Teddy quickly clears up the misunderstanding, but the agents realize it has created a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Nobody knows what The Man from Toronto looks like, but they know he’ll be showing up in the nation’s capital. If Teddy can continue posing as him, he can acquire the address and help the government arrest one of the world’s most dangerous criminals.

Never much of a go-getter, Teddy is reluctant to help but agrees when they offer to pay off all of his debts and have a handsome agent pose as his wife’s personal butler throughout her birthday weekend.

It seems like a foolproof plan (seriously, try poking holes in any of that logic), until the real Man from Toronto gets word of what happened. He’s not about to let a failed boxing instructor rob him of a $2 million payday, and he’s not exactly interested in going to jail either. He essentially kidnaps Teddy and forces him to help him complete the mission — since the clients now think The Man from Toronto looks like Kevin Hart, Teddy has to be the one who shows up at the next location (with Woody Harrelson giving him torture instructions through an earpiece, of course).

On paper (and for the first 20 minutes or so), there really is a lot to love about “The Man from Toronto.” At first, Kevin Hart opts to play things straight, demonstrating a comedic restraint that feels like a welcome change of pace. The mayhem that ensues because he forgot to buy toner is a fun bit, and it allows the film to seamlessly usher us into the mistaken identity plot without feeling too forced. Woody Harrelson also starts strong, giving a convincing performance as an all-business torture artist with ice water in his veins. The two men seem like perfect foils for one another, are thrust together under relatively believable circumstances, and have to complete a mission that has no easy solutions.

Still, despite a fun premise and a well-structured first act, “The Man from Toronto” tries to do too many things at once and devolves into a strange bouillabaisse of studio comedy tropes. Hart retrogresses to his usual schtick as a frazzled man who freaks out under pressure and screams everything in a high-pitched voice. And Harrelson’s titular character takes a regrettable, predictable turn when he reveals himself to be a big softie who would rather make sorbet than rip eyeballs out of their sockets. Like almost every big-budget Netflix action movie, there is no shortage of lavish setpieces that, while competently executed, feel completely devoid of meaning or stakes. One of the biggest scenes can’t even get the attention of the background extras, who inexplicably never notice Kevin Hart falling from the ceiling and landing in the middle of a dance floor.

The movie also flips between genres at a whiplash-inducing pace, alternating between tense scenes that look like they borrowed camera lenses from “Better Call Saul,” wacky comedic sequences where everyone forgets the stakes, and sappy rom-com moments that could have been lifted from a Richard Curtis mood board. Rather than build toward something multifaceted, the film’s lack of focus causes it to fail at all of its goals, and the rapid transitions between tones lead to some truly bizarre scenes. After an allegedly funny moment where Teddy throws up on a room full of bad guys, the dramatic scene that follows is all the weirder because a character revealing important information is drenched in vomit.

That tonal incoherence functions as a look into the Netflix multiverse, allowing viewers to imagine other versions of this movie that could have existed. The brutality displayed in Harrelson’s first scene suggests that this could have been a solid action flick about a truly dangerous man and the normie who gets mixed up with him. The charming (if underused) subplot about the elite federal agent posing as Lori’s personal butler could have fueled a fluffy rom-com. And the various “Men from Other Cities,” while never really explained, could have been fleshed out and used to build a comedic version of the “John Wick” universe. With all of those potential choices dangling in front of our faces, it’s impossible to justify the ones that “The Man from Toronto” actually makes.

Grade: C

“The Man from Toronto” begins streaming on Netflix on Friday, June 24. 

Kevin Hart isn’t holding back when it comes to CNN.

The comedian slammed the network for barring New Year’s Eve co-hosts Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper from drinking on-air during the live broadcast.

“What’s going on? I can’t believe this right now,” Hart said while video-chatting with the duo from Las Vegas. “I’m watching you guys and you’re completely sober. This is disappointing. You’re sober. What’s happening? What is happening right now?”

Hart continued, “You guys can’t say anything about it but I can. I can say things about it. This is absolute bullshit. I don’t like it one bit. I’m going to say what you want to say. This is absolute horseshit. I can’t believe this.”

Co-host Cooper was uncontrollably laughing while Hart started doing tequila shots from his own liquor brand, Gran Coramino.

“I’m going to do what you can’t: I’m going to do a shot because you guys have been hoodwinked,” Hart said. “I can’t believe CNN telling you guys not to go and cut loose in such a good true fashion. That’s perfect TV. You don’t tell you guys not to drink and I’m pissed off about it.”

The “Hart to Heart” host added, “Listen, I’m going to drink for you, and I’m going to drink a big enough shot for you guys to smell my breath afterwards and you can see it was absolutely good. This is me celebrating for you, through you.”

Hart summed up, “I’ve always been a fan and New Year’s is special because of the energy you brought to it. I can’t believe they pulled this shit on you guys. That’s right, CNN. I said ‘shit.’ I said ‘bullshit.’ I said it all. I’m pissed you’ve got these two guys sober up here all day. This is what you’re supposed to do. From me to you guys.”

Co-host Cohen replied, “Kevin, bless you. Thank you for that, first of all. We appreciate your anger. You are a vessel for us.”

Earlier guest John Stamos even said the duo of Cohen and Cooper are “funnier” when they’re drinking.

CNN banned Cohen and Cooper from consuming alcohol during the live broadcast after Cohen called out former New York City mayor Bill De Blasio and criticized Ryan Seacrest while ringing in 2022. New CNN CEO Chris Licht told staffers that on-air drinking lowered the “respectability” of the brand, as reported by Variety.

Seacrest, whom Cohen called a “loser” last year and later apologized, agreed with the new policy, saying that since Cooper and Cohen took over the broadcast in 2018, the boozy aspect as gotten too big.

“I don’t advocate drinking when one is on the air. I don’t know how that started as a tradition, but it’s probably a good idea [to scale back], CNN,” the “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” host told Entertainment Weekly. “There’s some pretty respectable people or at least one, right? I think there’s a serious journalist and then a friend of mine who has a lot of fun, but it’s probably a good idea. Although the viewers probably wish they would drink more. But I think they had something to say about my show at one point, which was I’m sure from the alcohol because I don’t think they would say what they said about our performers if they weren’t drinking. But, you know, I think our show’s a bigger, broader show and we will not drink until 1:05 in the morning.”